Leader profile: Tony Blair
27 April 2005
Blair or Bliar?
In 1997 Anthony Charles Lynton Blair led his "New Labour" party to a landslide victory over John Major's Conservative Government. Then just 43 years old, Tony Blair became the youngest Prime Minister since Lord Liverpool in 1812.
Born in Edinburgh in 1953, Mr Blair's first brush with politics was aged 11 when he stood as the Conservative candidate in a school election. He beat the Labour and Liberal candidates in the first of his landslide victories.
It was only after graduating from St John's College, Oxford that Mr Blair joined the Labour Party. He first stood for Parliament at the Beaconsfield by-election in 1982. The seat was a safe Conservative seat and Mr Blair only polled 10 per cent of the vote, but it was enough to get him noticed by those higher up in the Party.
In 1983 he was elected as MP for Sedgefield and following the death of John Smith in 1994 he became party leader.
From early on, Mr Blair aligned himself with the pro-reform groups within the Party, removing the party's support for the trade union "closed shop" and cutting Clause IV - outlining support for public ownership of the means of production - from its value statements.
He has taken a reforming agenda into government, establishing the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and Greater London Assembly and removing many of the hereditary peers in the House of Lords.
But over the last eight years Mr Blair's halo has slipped. The longest serving Prime Minister that Labour has ever had, Mr Blair has faced his fair share of controversy, notably over university fees and the decision to go to war in Iraq.
He has pressed ahead with unpopular policies despite strong criticism and opposition, including from his own backbenchers. He told the Labour conference in 2003: "I have no reverse gear."
Placards emblazoned with "Bliar" and accusations of misleading the country have become increasingly common during Mr Blair's second term in office, and his opponents have not passed up the opportunity to capitalise on his changed reputation.
As the campaign enters its final few days, the Conservatives have unveiled a poster that encapsulates what they see as the issue of trust surrounding Mr Blair. "If he's prepared to lie to take us to war, he's prepared to lie to win an election," it reads.
Michael Howard has repeatedly attacked Mr Blair's honesty. "Trust and character are important aspects of this campaign," he said.
Judging Blair on his record
The central theme of Mr Blair's re-election pitch is his Government's record of a strong economy and investment in public services.
The economy is central to all Labour's boasting and the messages are impressive. "Lowest mortgage rates for 40 years", "Lowest Unemployment for 29 years", "Lowest inflation since the 60s" and "the Longest period of economic growth for 200 years" (which the Labour manifesto interpreted to be the longest period of economic growth in modern history).
These claims do not tell the whole story. Low mortgage rates do not make it easier to get onto the property ladder, inflation has increased since 2000, there have been longer periods of economic growth and low unemployment does not tell the whole story about who can and cannot find work.
But the biggest question over the economy is whether Mr Blair's government can take all the credit for the changes. While it did put forward a number of radical reforms, including giving independence to the Bank of England, many of the changes implemented by both the Thatcher and the Major governments have also contributed to the current economic climate.
>>Labour's four poster boasts
Broken promises
At the 2001 election, Mr Blair was specifically asked whether the lack of commitment over National Insurance contributions should lead people to assume they would increase. He replied that "they shouldn't". A year later Labour raised National Insurance contributions increased by 1p.
>>Tories look to cash in National Insurance row
The Prime Minister claims that he did not lie. Rather, it was the conclusion of an ongoing review of the health service that made an increase unavoidable.
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