Blair, Tony (1953-…), served as prime minister of the United Kingdom from May 1997 to June 2007. The Labour Party, led by Blair, won elections by large margins in 1997 and 2001 and by a smaller margin in 2005. Blair resigned as prime minister and Labour Party leader in 2007.
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair was born on May 6, 1953, in Edinburgh, Scotland. He is one of three children born to Leo Charles Augustus Blair and Hazel Elizabeth Rosaleen Corscaden. Young Tony was educated at Fettes College, in Edinburgh; and at St John’s College, part of Oxford University in England. He became a lawyer in 1976. Blair married Cherie Booth in 1980. They have four children.
In 1983, Blair entered the British Parliament as a representative for Sedgefield in the House of Commons. When Labour Party leader John Smith died in 1994, Blair was elected to succeed him. Blair was instrumental in transforming the party. He supported efforts to reduce the influence of labor unions on Labour Party policies. In 1995, in a move to broaden the party’s appeal beyond the working class, party members voted to drop from the party’s constitution a statement of socialist principles.
During Blair’s first term as prime minister, his government helped bring a peace settlement to Northern Ireland; set up new parliaments in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales; and established Greater London’s first elected mayor. Blair also played a significant role in European politics and forged close ties to leaders in Russia and the United States.
On Sept. 11, 2001, after Blair had begun his second term, many British citizens and thousands of others died in terrorist attacks in the United States. In response, the United States, the United Kingdom, and other countries launched a campaign against terrorism that included extensive military operations in Afghanistan. Blair took a leading role in building international support for the campaign. See September 11 terrorist attacks.
In March 2003, the United States and its allies attacked Iraq, launching the Iraq War. Blair supported the U.S. war effort and, despite strong public opposition at home, sent tens of thousands of British troops to take part in the fighting. Blair and his government later faced charges that they had exaggerated the evidence used to persuade the country to go to war. The controversy reduced support for the Labour Party in the 2005 election.
After he resigned as prime minister, Blair was appointed envoy for peace efforts in the Middle East. From 2007 to 2015, he represented four mediators—the European Union, Russia, the United States, and the United Nations—that were working for peace in the region. In 2022, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom named Blair a Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter.
