Tony Blair

Tony Blair was Britain’s Labour prime minister from 1997 to 2007. Elected MP for Sedgefield in 1983, he became Labour leader in 1994 and developed the New Labour programme that preceded the party’s 1997 landslide victory.

His governments introduced devolution for Scotland and Wales, the Human Rights Act and freedom-of-information legislation, and helped secure the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland. His decision to join the 2003 invasion of Iraq became a defining controversy of his premiership, particularly after the claimed weapons of mass destruction were not found. His public image remains closely bound to the ambitions and disputes of that political period.