Tony Blair Biography
Tony Blair (Anthony Charles Lynton Blair), British politician and former British Prime Minister, was born on May6, 1953, at Edinburgh, Scotland. Though Blair was born in Scotland, he spent much of his childhood in Durham, England. Blair was a lawyer from Oxford University and practiced law before winning the election in 1983. |
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His father was a barrister and a university lecturer He was the United Kingdom youngest Prime Minister since 1812 and longest-serving Labour Party Prime Minister.
Tony Blair represented a new era in Parliament and made major changes to Labour Party along the way. He changed the Labour Party from a backward, looking leftist, socialist labor union based political party to a forward thinking, centrist free enterprise-friendly organization. He entered parliament in 1983 as a Labour MP for Sedfield, Durham, and soon made his mark as an articulate and forceful speaker and an adroit TV performer.
Articulate and telegenic, Blair rose quickly in the party organization. He was chosen as Labour Party leader after the death of John Smith in 1994. As a leader, he endeavored to reposition the party as a moderate centre-left alternative to conservative. In 1997, Tony Blair led Labour Party to power for the first time since 1979, and he became the youngest prime minister. With victories in1997, 2001, and 2005 Blair was the Labour Party’s longest-serving prime minister, the only person to lead the party to three consecutive general election victories.
During his long tenure as Britain’s Prime Minister, Tony Blair worked at improving ties with other European nations. Blair played a key role in extending the membership of the European Union from 15 to 27 states. Following the September 11 terror attacks in the United States, Blair gave full support to America, including the use of British military forces in its terror operation against Afghanistan.
In domestic government policy, Blair significantly increased public spending on health and education. In constitutional reform, he introduced devolution in Scotland and Wales. He strongly supported the Bush administration stand on Iraq’s nuclear disarmament policy, despite criticism from Labour Party. Tony Blair was also criticized for his alliance with the US and for his policies in the Middle East. On June 27, 2007 he officially resigned as prime minister of the United Kingdom and handed over his resignation to Queen.
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