The Blair Years

12.02.00am BST (GMT +0100) Mon 23rd Jul 2007

I was just taking a look at Timeline: The Blair Years and Tony Blair: Highs and lows on the BBC website which got me thinking about what other moments from Tony Blair's time as Prime Minister will be something that he will be remembered for.

I think that Tony Blair's reaction to the death of Diana Princess of Wales will be something that people will remember Tony Blair and that moment by. I think it worked well for Tony Blair given that the Royal family was stuck at their holiday home and refused to change their plans while people in the country thought that there was a need for them to be seen and Tony Blair just happened to fill this gap.

In October 1997 Gordon Brown ruled out entry before 1999 to Economic and Monetary Union saying five key economic tests have not been met. I think that this was a great moment missed and I think that failure to join the Economic and Monetary Union then means that we will now have to wait for a very long time before we can join the Economic and Monetary Union. This is also a moment when Britain really started distancing itself from our neighbours in Europe. To think that this was only done so that Tony Blair could maintain the support of the right wing press and Gordon Brown could maintain his authoritarian control of the Treasury what is most disappointing, unfortunate and upsetting.

I was surprised to find that 10th April, 1998 was not on the BBC list of Tony Blair's highs because that was the day when the Good Friday Agreement which sets out plans for devolved government in Northern Ireland which included both nationalists and unionists along with the early release of terrorist prisoners, the decommissioning of paramilitary weapons. The Good Friday Agreement was agreed after much hard work from many including Albert Reynolds, Bertie Ahern, Bill Clinton, George Mitchell, Mo Mowlam, Tony Blair and many politicians from Northern Ireland. While it is difficult to say whether the peace we see in Northern Ireland today could have ever been reached without the Good Friday Agreement, the Good Friday Agreement will certainly be remembered as a memorable moment in Northern Ireland peace process.

I was not surprised that the fuel protests over rise in petrol prices in September 2000 are on the list if I am not mistaken the fuel crisis of September 2000 was the only time during Tony Blair's first term as Prime Minister when the Tories had a lead over Labour in the opinion polls. However what I will remember the fuel crisis for is that it was the only time in my life when I remember getting the feeling that things were not right and of limited chaos.

7th June 2001 when Tony Blair helped Labour secure another general election win with a majority of over one hundred and fifty is another memorable day. The great disappointment for many democrats about this general election was the very low turnout but for Tony Blair and those closes to him this was what they had been working for since Tony Blair had been elected as leader of the Labour party in 1994.

I think that Tony Blair's reaction to the terrorist attacks on 11th September 2001 when Tony Blair spoke of his shock of what had happened in Washington and New York when Tony Blair pledged that the UK will stand shoulder to shoulder with the USA is also a memorable moment from his time as Prime Minister. When I look back at that now I get the feeling that given that Tony Blair and others believed that leaving Saddam Hussein in charge of Iraq could have led to similar horrible, horrific and horrifying attacks as those of 11th September 2001 then there is no surprise that the UK supported the USA in the military operations in Iraq.

As much as he may hate it and have not intended it Tony Blair will be most remembered for the decisions his government and he made during February and March 2003. On 15th February 2003 one of the largest protest marches ever to take place in UK marched through London to protest against war with Iraq and on 17th March, 2003 Robin Cook MP resigned as leader of the House of Commons because of his opposition to military operations in Iraq, this was followed the next day by over a hundred Labour MPs voting against governments decision to participate in the military operations in Iraq. However if the military operations in Iraq had not be sold as an operation to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction but as the first of a three or four stage process to secure the interests of the "West" in the middle east and at home things could have been very different in selling the military operations in Iraq and in planning for what could have happened once coalition governments were responsible for Iraq's future. During this time also Tony Blair insisted that UK ground troops be fully committed, rather than in the supporting role offered that the USA had offered things could have also gone very differently if this decision had been different.

On 29th May 2003 the Today programme reported Andrew Gilligan's allegations that the government enhanced its dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. I think this is another memorable point in Tony Blair's time as Prime Minister since I believe this was the point when people most distrusted Tony Blair personally and the behaviour of Tony Blair and some of his closes staff suggested that the Prime Minister had little belief and confidence in itself and it was a great surprise that Tony Blair himself manage to comeback from that to lead the country and the Labour party for a further four years and win another general election in that time, however Labours electoral success since 1997 is probably best explained by the limitations of the other parties and the terrible state the Conservative have been in since the early/mid 1990s.

When Tony Blair announced on 1st October 2004 that if he won the next election he will quit before the end of a third term is memorable because that seem to bother for the remainder of his time as Prime Minister. Tony Blair may have thought that the speculation about when he would hand over to Gordon Brown would have stopped at that point but its just didn't happen and for anyone who thinks there would not have been all this speculation if Tony Blair had not made this announcement then they are mistaken because there was constant discussion, rumour and talk about this issue during Tony Blair's last five years as Prime Minister, it just became more of an issue after his announcement.

Labour winning a third term in government with Tony Blair as their leader was another memorable moment not may Prime Ministers have achieved that and not many party leaders past or present had/have the ability to do that. The reduced majority was welcome the majorities of a hundred and seventy nine and one hundred and sixty five had meant Blair and his cabinet often ignored Parliament and took their backbenchers for granted. In my personal opinion even a majority of sixty six is too large.

July 2005 was memorable month too given that on 6th after much work from Tony Blair himself London was chose to host the 2012 Olympic Games, however the continuously growing costs which London and UK may have to face could lead to some of those who supported the bid regretting the decision. However the real benefits or costs of hosting the Olympic will not be known for many years yet probably only after the games have finished. Unfortunately the ecstasy, elation and euphoria soon disappeared as UK born suicide bombers killed fifty two innocent people in London. Then on 8th July 2005 the G8 summit hosted by Tony Blair in the UK ended with an agreement to boost aid for developing countries and then on 21st July there was an attempt to attack on London's transport system again.

Much of what has happened since then has been to do with party finances and peerages or speculation about when Tony Blair would hand over and whether he would or would not support Gordon Brown to succeed him.

Related Links:

Bill Clinton.

Timeline: The Blair Years.

Tony Blair.

Tony Blair: Highs and lows.