Tony Blair

Sir Anthony Charles Lynton "Tony" Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007. He was Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007 and Member of Parliament (MP) for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007. On the day he stood down as Prime Minister and MP, he was made official Envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East on behalf of the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and Russia.^[1]

The Right Honourable Sir Tony Blair KG
Blair in 2010
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
In office 2 May 1997 – 27 June 2007
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Deputy	John Prescott
Preceded by	John Major
Succeeded by	Gordon Brown
Leader of the Opposition
In office 21 July 1994 – 2 May 1997
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	John Major
Deputy	John Prescott
Preceded by	Margaret Beckett
Succeeded by	John Major
Leader of the Labour Party
In office 21 July 1994 – 24 June 2007
Deputy	John Prescott
General Secretary	Tom Sawyer Margaret McDonagh David Triesman Matt Carter Peter Watt
Chairman	Charles Clarke John Reid Ian McCartney Hazel Blears
Preceded by	John Smith
Succeeded by	Gordon Brown
Shadow Cabinet positions Shadow Home Secretary In office 24 July 1992 – 24 October 1994 Leader John Smith Margaret Beckett (acting) Himself Preceded by Roy Hattersley Succeeded by Jack Straw Shadow Secretary of State for Employment In office 2 November 1989 – 24 July 1992 Leader Neil Kinnock Preceded by Michael Meacher Succeeded by Frank Dobson Shadow Secretary of State for Energy In office 23 November 1988 – 2 November 1989 Leader Neil Kinnock Preceded by John Prescott Succeeded by Frank Dobson Shadow Minister for Trade In office 13 July 1987 – 23 November 1988 Leader Neil Kinnock Preceded by Bryan Gould Succeeded by Robin Cook
Member of Parliament for Sedgefield
In office 9 June 1983 – 27 June 2007
Preceded by	Constituency created[nb]
Succeeded by	Phil Wilson
Personal details
Born	Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (1953-05-06) 6 May 1953 (age 72) Edinburgh, Scotland
Political party	Labour
Spouse(s)	Cherie Booth ​ (m. 1980)​
Children	4
Parents	Leo Blair (father)
Relatives	William Blair (brother)
Education	Chorister School Fettes College
Alma mater	St John's College, Oxford Inns of Court
Website	Institute for Global Change
n.b. ^ Electorate abolished on 28 February 1974 and reconstituted on 8 June 1983.

Blair was elected Leader of the Labour Party in the 1994 leadership election following the sudden death of his predecessor, John Smith. Under Blair's leadership the party abandoned many policies it had held for decades. Labour won a landslide victory in the 1997 general election, which ended 18 years of Conservative rule with the heaviest Conservative defeat since 1832.^[2]

He was the Labour Party's longest-serving Prime Minister and the only leader to have taken the party to three uninterrupted general election victories.

Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer during all Blair's ten years in office, succeeded him as party leader and Prime Minister in 2007.^[3]

Early life

Blair was born at Queen Mary Maternity Home in Edinburgh on 6 May 1953. He was the second son of Leo and Hazel Blair. Blair joined the Labour Party in 1975.

Career

Blair was a lawyer before becoming a politician. He married Cherie Booth, also a lawyer, who graduated from the London School of Economics with a first-class honours degree. Blair himself left Oxford University with a second-class degree. They have four children: Euan, Nicky, Kathryn, and Leo. There was a controversy over Blair sending Euan to a grant-maintained school. As a result of this, Alastair Campbell discovered Blair "standing stark naked reading the Daily Mail."^[4]

As Prime Minister

As Leader of the Labour Party, he won the 1997, 2001 and 2005 UK general elections. Blair is the first and only Labour Party leader to have won three general elections in a row.^[5]

He attributes his success in politics to a pair of "lucky brogues", which he wore for every single Prime Minister's Questions of his leadership. He claimed that "cheap shoes are a false economy".^[6]

Blair strongly supported a number of elements of US foreign policy, notably participating in the invasions of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003. He faced heavy criticism for this. The facts about Iraq's possible possession of weapons of mass destruction that he relied on, which later turned out to be false, led many to perceive him as dishonest. Playwright Harold Pinter and former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Blair committed war crimes.^[7][8] Criticism also arose for his involvement in bombings of Yugoslavia in 1999 when he supported the Kosovo Albanian UÇK guerrillas.

After-PM

On the day of his resignation, Blair was made an official envoy in the Middle East. In 2004, he started the Commission for Africa.^[9] He continued work as a commissioner after his service as Prime Minister ended.^[10]

In December 2021, Queen Elizabeth II honored Blair with the Order of the Garter.^[11]