British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Tony Blair and his contribution to the political life of modern Britain. Start of political activity
Tony Blair, who took office on May 2, 1997, became the youngest head of the British government since 1812. He ended 18 years of Conservative rule in Britain and secured the ruling position of Labor.
During his years in office, Prime Minister Blair has carried out very successful reforms in the field of health care, school education and the labor market. Under him, the UK economy entered a stage of sustainable growth, and almost 3 million new jobs have appeared in the country over the past decade.
In 1997, in his first year as prime minister, Blair followed through on a promise to hold referendums in Scotland and Wales to transfer some of the functions of the central government to the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly.
Tony Blair's indisputable achievement was the settlement in Ulster. In October 1997, Blair met with Gerry Adams, leader of the political wing of Sinn Féin's Irish Republican Army. In April 1998, decades of warring Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland signed the Good Friday Agreement, paving the way for a further peace process. And in the fall of 2006, the warring parties came to a historic agreement on the creation of a single government, which will begin its work on May 15, 2007. On May 8, 2007, Tony Blair said he considered it a matter of honor to complete "on a high note" the process of forming his own authorities in Ulster, which began in the first year of his premiership.
In 1997 Blair granted independence to the Bank of England, which received the right to independently, without consulting the government, set interest rates.
May 1998 A successful referendum was held to establish an assembly for London and an elected mayor of the capital.
In 1999 The government of Tony Blair carried out a radical reform that changed the system that had existed for centuries to form the upper house of the British Parliament. The reform of the House of Lords reduced the number of hereditary peers to 92.
In January 2004 Blair managed to get a package of educational reform bills through Parliament.
After the terrorist attacks in London July 7, 2005 Blair promised not to allow the slightest concession to terrorism, which earned him the support of citizens.
November 2005 in the Labor parliamentary faction, a movement began to impeach Blair: the prime minister's actions before the war in Iraq served as the basis, when, according to critics, he deliberately misled parliament.
February 2006 Blair failed in Parliament: his proposed bill to criminalize incitement to racial hatred was defeated by a one-vote majority.
In 2006 demands for Blair's resignation became louder in connection with a whole series of scandals. In March 2006, it emerged that some wealthy entrepreneurs who had made large secret loans to the Labor Party had received seats in the House of Lords, knighthoods or other titles. This scandal, the journalists called "money in exchange for titles." Some people from the prime minister's inner circle were involved in a high-profile scandal, including Lord Levy, who was in charge of collecting donations in the party. Tony Blair himself was forced to testify in this case to the police, becoming the first sitting head of government in British history to be interrogated by Scotland Yard.
In British foreign policy during Blair's first term, the main event was the country's participation in the Kosovo conflict. Several thousand British troops were sent to the region as part of the peacekeeping force.
March 2000 Blair became the first leader of a Western country to visit Vladimir Putin, who was elected president of the Russian Federation, in Moscow.
In January 2003 Blair made public information according to which Iraq continued to create chemical and biological weapons and hatched plans for their use. He declared the need for a speedy solution to the problem of Iraq's disarmament and traveled around European countries campaigning for the overthrow of Hussein.
March 19, 2003 Britain has sent 45,000 troops to the US-led "goodwill coalition" to invade Iraq. Blair spoke to reporters in defense of his decision to participate in the Iraqi campaign.
March 2006 Blair was criticized by anti-war activists for his statement that the decision to go to war with Iraq would be ultimately judged by God alone.
He argued that if the circumstances were the same as in 2003, he would again decide to start the war.
In the middle of May 2007 it is expected that Tony Blair will announce his resignation as leader of the Labor Party, and after the election of a new leader, presumably at the end of June 2007, he will transfer the powers of prime minister to him.
May 2007 There have been reports that Tony Blair intends to try himself as an actor in a play about the dangers of extremism after his retirement.
Tony Blair was born to Leo and Hazel Blair and grew up in Durham.
His father was a prominent lawyer who ran for the Tory Party in 1963, but after a stroke on the eve of Election Day, he became mute and was forced to give up his political ambitions.
After leaving school, he attended Fett College in Edinburgh, where he became interested in rock music and became a fan of Mick Jagger. He left Fettes and went to St. John's College, Oxford, where he majored in international law. After graduating in 1975, he went to work at Lincoln's Inn.
Political career
He entered the world of politics by joining the Labor Party, and as early as 1982 he was the party's nominee for Beaconsfield County. Despite the fact that he lost his first election, already in 1983 he won the election, receiving a seat in Parliament from the County of Sedgefield.
In 1987, he chaired the trade and industry committee.
In 1988, he was appointed Shadow Secretary of the Department of Energy. The Shadow Cabinet is an alternate cabinet made up of members of the opposition who closely monitor Politics and control the actions of the government.
Later, when Neil Kinnock, leader of the opposition, resigned in 1992, Blair was named Shadow Home Secretary.
In 1994, John Smith died unexpectedly of a heart attack and Blair was elected Leader of the Opposition and was also appointed to the Privy Council.
After his election as leader of the Labor Party in Parliament, he proposed a number of reforms relating to taxation, the criminal and administrative code, and education.
The unpopularity of conservative leader John Major, after several scandals, proved beneficial to Blair. On general elections In 1997, the Labor Party won a resounding victory over the Conservatives, and on May 2, 1997, he was sworn in as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
As prime minister, he raised taxes, set a minimum wage, made changes to the labor code, and gave freedom to gay people. His policy has always been to strengthen Britain's integration with the European Union.
In health and education, he also introduced numerous reforms, abolished many categories of social benefits, introduced strict anti-terrorism measures and gave the police greater powers. His government has taken a number of initiatives to reduce poverty and increase the number of social services in the UK. Poverty has been greatly reduced and general state Public health also improved during his tenure.
During his tenure, the United Kingdom was involved in five major military companies:
1) 1998, when England joined the US to attack Iraq due to the latter's inability to fulfill the UN mandate to reduce arms,
2) 1999, Kosovo war,
3) 2000, Civil War in Sierra Leone,
4) 2001, after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the US declared a "war on terror" and the UK joined the US in sending troops to Afghanistan
5) 2003, when the US invaded Iraq, the UK also fully supported its ally.
His foreign policy, especially in relation to the United States, was heavily criticized, and his popularity began to decline. However, his participation in the settlement of the Northern Ireland Peace Process was highly appreciated.
On June 7, 2001, he won a landslide victory in the general election and was re-elected Prime Minister for the second time. He was re-elected for a third term on May 5, 2005, but already on June 27, 2007, he handed over the leadership of the Labor Party to Gordon Brown. On the day he retired, he was appointed Special Envoy to the United Nations, European Union, USA and Russia.
In 2007 he founded the Tony Blair Sports Foundation whose main mission is to increase the participation of children in sporting events, especially in the North East of England, where most children are socially excluded, and to promote general wellness and prevent childhood obesity.
After retiring, he devotes most of his time to philanthropy, as well as curating the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, a non-profit organization he founded to promote understanding and tolerance among people of different faiths.
Personal life
On March 29, 1980, Blair married Cherie Booth. From this marriage he has four children.
In 2010, his memoir, A Journey, was published, one of the best-selling autobiographies of all time.
Tony Blair was born in Edinburgh, Scotland into a lawyer's family. As a child, he lived in Australia for three years.
He graduated from two colleges - in Edinburgh (at the privileged private high school Fettes College) and Oxford (St. John's Oxford College). He studied law at Oxford. During his studies, he joined the Labor Party. After graduating from college, Tony went to Paris, where, for the sake of "knowledge of life", he worked for a year as a bartender.
It is known that while studying at school, the classmate of the future prime minister was "Mr. Bean" Rowan Atkinson himself.
Start of political activity
In 1975, after graduating from university, he taught law at Oxford, after which he began working in the law office of Darry Irwin, a close friend, one of the leaders of the Labor Party, John Smith, under whose influence Tony Blair began political activity. In 1983 he took his newly created seat in Parliament representing Sidgefield, a mining region to the north. Actively involved in the party struggle, the future prime minister was engaged in journalism and in 1987-1988 led his own column in The Times. Career quickly went up the hill, and in 1992 Blair was elected to the party's executive committee.
At the head of the party
An active and ambitious politician, Blair moved quickly through the ranks of the party hierarchy. July 21, 1994 Tony Blair, after 11 years of parliamentary activity, becomes the youngest leader of the Labor Party in its history. Then he was only 41 years old.
Blair became the ideal political leader for the Labor Party, largely deciding the outcome of the 1997 parliamentary elections in favor of his party.
Premiership
Blair was elected by a landslide, a victory the British Social Democrats had not seen in a century. As Prime Minister of Great Britain, following the results of the 1997 elections, he replaced the conservative John Major, thus interrupting the 18-year period of rule of the Tory party.
Since May 2, 1997 - Prime Minister of Great Britain. He was re-elected in the elections of 2001 and 2005.
On May 10, 2007, Tony Blair announced that on June 27 he would submit his resignation to the Queen as Prime Minister. Blair's predetermined successor was the Scottish Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown.
Known as the most loyal prime minister to the United States
Social politics
The New Labour's social transformation program was aimed at ensuring and maintaining social justice and the stability of British society. Theoretical basis modernization of the country was the concept of "Third way" ("Third way"), developed by Tony Blair's chief adviser Anthony Giddens. The "third way", according to Blair, is the search for an alternative, a compromise and a combination of two elements: a market economy and universal social justice, combined with increased attention to the human factor.
One of the main vectors in the social policy of the "new Laborites" was the gender program, which was based on the need for equality in society, which would contribute to sustainable democratic development. The Laborites focused their attention on the problem of female employment and the problem of gender inequality in the labor market, which is most evident in the gap in wages between the male and female population (in 1997, the hourly earnings of women accounted for 80.2% of the hourly earnings of men, and in 2004 they rose to 82%).
In 1997, after the signing of the EU Social Charter, the UK announced new directions in social policy. Thus, British workers received the right to three weeks' paid leave, and since 1999 - four weeks; It was decided that the duration of overtime work from now on should not exceed 8 hours.
In 2003, the government created the post of Minister for Children, Youth and Families with a wide range of powers. As a result, local governments were required to provide needed help families with children, especially disadvantaged ones. In March 2004, the Children's Bill was adopted, which meant ensuring a decent standard of living for children, as well as measures to provide them with sufficient assistance. Moreover, child allowances for families with low income(in 2004, benefits for the first child were £16.50 per week, for each subsequent child - £11.05) and allocated 6 billion pounds. Art. to combat child poverty. Also, for children living in the poorest areas of the UK, the Sure Start program was developed, which involved the creation of a nursery, visits by teachers to poor families with small children, and informing parents on child education.
In 1998 Blair developed new program development of education. A revision has been announced school programs focusing on the individual abilities of children and focusing on their future professional activity. The educational reform was accompanied by the introduction of an additional fee of 1 thousand pounds in the universities of Wales and England. Art. (“mentoring fee”); Scotland has abandoned this innovation. In 2000, it was decided to set a course for each school to have a certain specialization, in other words, its own "ethos". In addition, the UK was divided into 25 regional educational action areas (Education action areas) and for each was allocated 750 thousand pounds. Art.
Sierra Leone
In 2000, Tony Blair sent 1,500 British troops to Sierra Leone to take over the defense of the country's capital, Freetown, from rebel army"United Revolutionary Front".
On May 30, 2007, Tony Blair was solemnly proclaimed Paramount Chief of Sierra Leone. The new title formally gives Tony Blair the right to sit in the Parliament of Sierra Leone. Thus, according to The Daily Telegraph, the country's authorities noted his role in stopping civil war.
After resignation
On the day of his resignation, June 27, 2007, he was appointed Quartet's special envoy for peace in the Middle East.
In January 2008, he was appointed Senior Advisor and Member of the International Affairs Council at JPMorgan Chase. Blair also works as an advisor to the financial group Zurich Financial.
Since January 2010, he has been working for the French group of companies LVMH, where he will hold the position of personal adviser to the owner of the French group, Bernard Arnault.
In October 2011, it was announced that Tony Blair would lead a group of advisers on economic issues to the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev.
Family
They met in the late 1970s in Paris. They have three sons (Ewen, Nicky and Leo) and a daughter, Katherine. The last child - Leo - was born on May 20, 2000.
Awards
- Presidential Medal of Freedom (USA, January 2009)
- Was a classmate of famous actor Rowan Atkinson
Tony Blair was born in the Scottish city of Edinburgh in the family of a lawyer. As a child, he lived in Australia for three years.
From 1961 to 1966 he attended a private chorister school at Durham Cathedral, along with Rowan Atkinson, the future actor and performer of the role of Mr. Bean. Then Tony Blair entered the privileged private school Fettes College in Edinburgh. In Fettes, Tony did not differ in exemplary behavior, he hated the official uniform, which was mandatory for all students, imitating Mick Jagger walked in jeans and grew long hair. The teachers constantly complained about him because he interfered with the classes.
In 1971-72 Tony Blair went to London to try his hand at rock music before studying law at St. John's College, Oxford University. As a student, Tony Blair was the vocalist in the band Ugly Rumours. In 1975 he received a diploma of the second degree of Bachelor of Laws.
After graduating from Oxford, Tony Blair joined the Labor Party. In 1976 he became a member of Lincoln's Inn as an apprentice barrister. In the summer of 1976, Tony went to France and worked in a hotel bar in Paris.
Start of political activity
In 1975, after graduating from university, he taught law at Oxford, after which he began working in the law office of Darry Irwin, a close friend, one of the leaders of the Labor Party, John Smith, under whose influence Tony Blair began political activity. In 1983, he took his newly created seat in Parliament, representing Sidgefield, a mining region to the north. Actively involved in the party struggle, the future prime minister was engaged in journalism and in 1987-1988 led his own column in The Times. Career quickly went up the hill, and in 1992 Blair was elected to the party's executive committee.
At the head of the party
An active and ambitious politician, Blair moved quickly through the ranks of the party hierarchy. July 21, 1994 Tony Blair, after 11 years of parliamentary activity, becomes the youngest leader of the Labor Party in its history. Then he was only 41 years old.
Blair became the ideal political leader for the Labor Party, largely deciding the outcome of the 1997 parliamentary elections in favor of his party.
Premiership
Blair was elected by a landslide, a victory the British Social Democrats had not seen in a century. As Prime Minister of Great Britain, following the results of the 1997 elections, he replaced the conservative John Major, thus interrupting the 18-year period of rule of the Tory party.
Since May 2, 1997 - Prime Minister of Great Britain. He was re-elected in the elections of 2001 and 2005.
On May 10, 2007, Tony Blair announced that on June 27 he would submit his resignation to the Queen as Prime Minister. Blair's predetermined successor was the Scottish Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown.
Known as the prime minister most loyal to the United States.
After resignation
On the day of his resignation, June 27, 2007, he was appointed Quartet's special envoy for peace in the Middle East.
In January 2008, he was appointed Senior Advisor and Member of the International Affairs Council at JPMorgan Chase. Blair also works as an advisor to the financial group Zurich Financial.
In July 2009, Tony Blair announced a strategic partnership with Durham University. Similar partnerships have been made with Yale University and the National University of Singapore to create global network twelve leading research universities to promote its Faith and Globalization Initiative in collaboration with the Tony Blair Faith Foundation.
Since the beginning of 2010, Blair has been an advisor to the owner of the French LVMH group of companies, Bernard Arnault. Since autumn 2011, Tony Blair has been advising Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev on economic reforms.
Interesting Facts
* In 1999, Blair for his contribution to the settlement of the conflict in Northern Ireland and participation in the Belfast Agreement of 1998 received the International Prize. Charlemagne.
* May 22, 2008 Tony Blair received an honorary doctorate in law from Queen's University Belfast for his contribution to the conflict in Northern Ireland.
* In 2009, US President George W. Bush presented Tony Blair with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
* In 2007, Robert Harris wrote the novel Ghost, which portrayed Tony Blair as Prime Minister Adam Lang, a CIA-influenced British prime minister. In 2010, the premiere of the film "Ghost", filmed by Roman Polanski based on the book, took place.
* Michael Sheen played the role of Tony Blair three times: in the 2003 TV movie The Deal, in the 2006 movie The Queen and in the 2010 TV movie The Special Relationship.
* Blair is the longest-serving British Labor Party record. In the 20th century, only Blair and Margaret Thatcher remained in power for three general elections.
