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Blairism

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File:TonyBlairArmagh1998.jpg
Blair speaks in support of the Northern Ireland peace process while visiting Armagh in September 1998.

Template:Blair sidebar In British politics, Blairism is the political ideology of Tony Blair, the former leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister between 1997 and 2007, and those that support him, known as Blairites. It entered the New Penguin English Dictionary in 2000.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Elements of the ideology include investment in public services, expansionary efforts in education to encourage social mobility, and increased actions in terms of mass surveillance alongside a ramping up of law enforcement powers, both of these latter changes advocated in the context of fighting organized crime and terrorism. Blairites have additionally been known for their contrast with the traditional support for socialism by those believing in left-wing politics, with Blair himself and others speaking out against the nationalisation of major industries and against also heavy regulations of business operations. On foreign policy, Blairism is supportive of close relations with the United States and liberal interventionism, including advocacy for both the Iraq war and the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021).

IdeologyEdit

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File:Clinton Blair.jpg
U.S. President Bill Clinton (left) meets with Prime Minister Blair (right) in November 1999, with the American leader being a close political partner given their mutual Atlanticist views and shared emphasis on the Special Relationship.

Politically, Blair has been identified with record investment into public services, an interventionist and Atlanticist foreign policy, support for stronger law enforcement powers, a large focus on surveillance as a means to address terrorism and a large focus on education as a means to encourage social mobility. In the early years (circa 1994–1997), Blairism was also associated with support for European integration and particularly British participation in the European single currency, though this waned after Labour took office.

The term is used in particular in contrast to Brownite, to identify those within the Labour Party who supported Gordon Brown rather than Blair. However, with Blair and Brown typically in agreement on most political issues<ref name=hutton>How to bear Blair: become a Blairite Will Hutton, Guardian Unlimited – Comment is free, 21 June 2006</ref> (from Iraq to public sector reform), some commentators have noted that "the difference between Brownites and Blairites [...] is more tribal than ideological".<ref>Jack the Knife goes for the clearout kill Kirsty Milne, The Scotsman, 28 November 2001</ref> This is believed to stem from a personal disagreement between Blair and Brown over who should run for the leadership following the death of John Smith in 1994. Though Brown was originally considered the senior of the two, he waited until after Smith's funeral to begin campaigning, by which point Blair had gathered too much momentum to be defeated.<ref>Will he? Won't he? Suzie Mackenzie, The Guardian, 25 September 2004</ref> However, in his book Whatever it Takes, Steve Richards offered an alternate view: that there were significant disagreements between the two about relative poverty, the level of public spending and the potential for choice in public services.<ref>[1] Nick Cohen, The Guardian, 3 October 2010</ref>

In a 1999 article, The Economist stated: <templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

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Blair's tenure is known for an expansion of LGBT rights, such as the introduction of civil partnerships. Blair told the LGBT organisation Stonewall that "what has happened is that the culture of the country has changed in a definable way" and that "it's a thing that doesn't just give me a lot of pride, but it has actually brought a lot of joy". Blair has also stated that he got up off his seat and danced upon seeing the first civil partnership ceremonies on television.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Relationship to prior administrationsEdit

Template:See also The Daily Telegraph stated in April 2008 that Blair's programme, with its emphasis on "New Labour", accepted the free-market ideology of Thatcherism. The article cited deregulation, privatisation of key national industries, maintaining a flexible labour market, marginalising the role of trade unions and devolving government decision making to local authorities as evidence. He also sought a closer, better relationship with Europe, and considered joining the Euro currency, but Gordon Brown was not in favour.<ref name=inspire>Template:Cite news</ref>

In the BBC Four documentary film Tory! Tory! Tory!, Blair is described as personally admiring Margaret Thatcher deeply and making the decision that she would be the first outside person he formally invited to visit him in 10 Downing Street.<ref>BBC Four, Tory! Tory! Tory!</ref>

Former Conservative Prime Minister John Major, who Blair defeated in a landslide at the 1997 general election; was one of the original figures behind the Northern Ireland peace process that Blair continued and both of them campaigned together in support of the Good Friday Agreement.

Blair privately called Thatcher "unhinged", a description that later became public knowledge.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Blair criticised the Thatcher government's record on poverty and made that a key issue for Labour economic policy. He made the goal to eradicate child poverty in Britain within 20 years based on the fact that one-third of British children were in poverty post-Thatcher compared to the 9% rate in 1979 (although these statistics are disputed).<ref name="war-on">Template:Cite news</ref>

In a 2001 speech to a Conservative election rally, Thatcher called New Labour 'rootless and soulless' saying at least Old Labour stood for certain principles, that respected them, and also said Blair does not truly believe in liberty. She also claimed the Labour government would give up the British pound to join the Euro.<ref>Speech to Conservative Election Rally in Plymouth ("The Mummy Returns")</ref>

Blair also abolished Section 28 and created more pro-European initiatives compared to Thatcher.Template:Citation needed

In his 2010 autobiography, A Journey, Blair remarked: <templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

In what caused much jarring and tutting within the party, I even decided to own up to supporting changes Margaret Thatcher had made. I knew the credibility of the whole New Labour project rested on accepting that much of what she wanted to do in the 1980s was inevitable, a consequence not of ideology but of social and economic change. The way she did it was often very ideological, sometimes unnecessarily so, but that didn't alter the basic fact: Britain needed the industrial and economic reforms of the Thatcher period.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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Relationship to later administrationsEdit

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Impact on the Labour PartyEdit

The Labour Party leadership of Jeremy Corbyn was seen as a departure from Blairism, and a return of Old Labour, and was described as a 'return of the 1940s Labour Party' by The Guardian, with its emphasis on re-nationalisation of energy, water, and railways and massive public investment in housing and the NHS. Jeremy Corbyn was critical of Blair's involvement in Iraq and voted against it at the time, garnering much support particularly from the youth vote. Labour increased its vote share by over 9% in 2017, costing Theresa May her majority in Parliament, but with the party split by Brexit policy and identitarian infighting, it lost the 2019 election to Boris Johnson's Conservatives.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Since the election of Keir Starmer as Leader of the Labour Party in 2020, some in the British media Template:Who have noted the ideological shift from the left back to the centre, allowing comparisons to be drawn between the current policy platform of the Labour Party and its Shadow Ministers (some of whom served in the cabinets of Blair and Brown) and that of New Labour.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The November 2021 shadow cabinet reshuffle was seen to be giving more power to Blairites in the Parliamentary Labour Party. This was criticised by former Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer John McDonnell.<ref>Template:Cite tweet</ref> In May 2022, on the 25th anniversary of Labour's landslide victory in the 1997 election, Blair in a video looked back at the victory and his achievements and showed his support for Starmer.

The 2023 British shadow cabinet reshuffle was seen as giving even more power to Blairites within the Labour Party.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

BlairitesEdit

Other than Blair himself, the following prominent Labour politicians are often considered Blairites, but may not identify themselves as such:

File:Alastair Campbell - Chatham House 2012 crop.jpg
Alastair Campbell
File:Peter Mandelson.jpg
Lord Mandelson
File:RuthKellyMP.jpg
Ruth Kelly
File:David Miliband 2.jpg
David Miliband

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See alsoEdit

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FootnotesEdit

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