The Blare of Blair
This is an exciting book on a story about which we still do not know the end. Was it a genuine step forward by an authentic Christian world statesman, or was it all just 'spin'? Sophie Loussouarn has interviewed all the actors.
TONY BLAIR’S POLITICAL ODYSSEY
by Sophie Loussouarn
Now that the lights are going out all over Britain in these months of Brown twilight, Blair gleams like a star in the East. This book deals with his decade at Downing Street from a French angle. The man of destiny certainly appealed to French personalities as varied as Nicolas Sarkozy and his rival, Ségolène Royal -- they even used him as a model for their own campaigns.
He was born in Edinburgh in 1953, got an education at the Scottish boarding-school Fettes and went on to study law at St John’s College, Oxford. That, at least, is the official version. In fact he was more interested, at Oxford, in drama and rock’n roll than in either law or politics. However, he eventually joined the Labour Party and became an MP at the sprightly age of 30. Immediately he was recognized as one of the party’s rising stars: the advocate of the modernization of ‘Old Labour’, the party of arrogant dogmatists.
When he arrived in the United States he was excited by the look of the Democratic Party and and was especially inspired by Bill Clinton’s manner of running politics. So, not surprisingly, after the death of John Smith, a Labour traditionalist, he won the leadership contest as the man of ‘New Labour’, a viable choice for voters. He was the most charismatic figure in British politics. He knocked Clause 4 out of the Labour Party Constitution: the boldness of his action attracted a whole body of voters, ranging over a broad spectrum of Middle England and young professionals -- Thatcher’s electorate.
After 18 years of Conservative rule, the Labour Party won a landslide victory in 1997, making Tony Blair the youngest British Prime Minister since 1812. He was cheered when he arrived at Number Ten with his family. It was the dawn of a new era: Blairite Britain was young and trendy. Blair launched ground breaking constitutional reforms, such as Scottish and Welsh devolution and the reform of the House of Lords in order to rebrand Britain. Blair’s economic policy never questioned the Thatcher legacy and bolstered sustainable growth, encouraging enterprise and innovation. He severed the Labour Party’s traditional links with the trade unions and came closer to the world of business and finance. Blair’s foreign policy was interventionist, sometimes messianic, in Sierra Leone and in Kosovo. These very positive actions were based on religious convictions.
Trouble began for him after 9/11, when he began supporting Bush and his crusade against terrorism -- a novel form of the so-called ‘special relationship’ with the United States. Blair’s decision to back G.W. Bush’s military intervention in Iraq was to be considered a stain on his premiership; it did prevent him from achieving his social reforms in health and education.
His grandest achievement was probably the peace settlement in Northern Ireland, along with the apparent success of his economic policies. In fact, it is too early to say what his eventual legacy will be. He is the first Labour Prime Minister to succeed in winning three successive elections. He will, one imagines, be remembered for the ‘Third Way’ and for establishing Labour as the dominant party at the turn of the Millennium. He was, nevertheless, forced out of office in 2007 amidst a storm of controversy.
TONY BLAIR’S POLITICAL ODYSSEY
by Sophie Loussouarn
Now that the lights are going out all over Britain in these months of Brown twilight, Blair gleams like a star in the East. This book deals with his decade at Downing Street from a French angle. The man of destiny certainly appealed to French personalities as varied as Nicolas Sarkozy and his rival, Ségolène Royal -- they even used him as a model for their own campaigns.
He was born in Edinburgh in 1953, got an education at the Scottish boarding-school Fettes and went on to study law at St John’s College, Oxford. That, at least, is the official version. In fact he was more interested, at Oxford, in drama and rock’n roll than in either law or politics. However, he eventually joined the Labour Party and became an MP at the sprightly age of 30. Immediately he was recognized as one of the party’s rising stars: the advocate of the modernization of ‘Old Labour’, the party of arrogant dogmatists.
When he arrived in the United States he was excited by the look of the Democratic Party and and was especially inspired by Bill Clinton’s manner of running politics. So, not surprisingly, after the death of John Smith, a Labour traditionalist, he won the leadership contest as the man of ‘New Labour’, a viable choice for voters. He was the most charismatic figure in British politics. He knocked Clause 4 out of the Labour Party Constitution: the boldness of his action attracted a whole body of voters, ranging over a broad spectrum of Middle England and young professionals -- Thatcher’s electorate.
After 18 years of Conservative rule, the Labour Party won a landslide victory in 1997, making Tony Blair the youngest British Prime Minister since 1812. He was cheered when he arrived at Number Ten with his family. It was the dawn of a new era: Blairite Britain was young and trendy. Blair launched ground breaking constitutional reforms, such as Scottish and Welsh devolution and the reform of the House of Lords in order to rebrand Britain. Blair’s economic policy never questioned the Thatcher legacy and bolstered sustainable growth, encouraging enterprise and innovation. He severed the Labour Party’s traditional links with the trade unions and came closer to the world of business and finance. Blair’s foreign policy was interventionist, sometimes messianic, in Sierra Leone and in Kosovo. These very positive actions were based on religious convictions.
Trouble began for him after 9/11, when he began supporting Bush and his crusade against terrorism -- a novel form of the so-called ‘special relationship’ with the United States. Blair’s decision to back G.W. Bush’s military intervention in Iraq was to be considered a stain on his premiership; it did prevent him from achieving his social reforms in health and education.
His grandest achievement was probably the peace settlement in Northern Ireland, along with the apparent success of his economic policies. In fact, it is too early to say what his eventual legacy will be. He is the first Labour Prime Minister to succeed in winning three successive elections. He will, one imagines, be remembered for the ‘Third Way’ and for establishing Labour as the dominant party at the turn of the Millennium. He was, nevertheless, forced out of office in 2007 amidst a storm of controversy.
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