John Burton (political agent) John Burton (political agent) John Burton was a Labour Party councillor in County Durham, England. He was a member of Sedgefield Borough Council, representing the ward of Fishburn and Old Trimdon. However, he is most notable for being the constituency agent of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who represented the Sedgefield constituency from 1983 until standing down as Prime Minister in 2007. Burton was one of the first to spot the potential of the young Tony Blair. When the new Sedgefield constituency was created for the 1983 general election, which included Burton's home of Trimdon, the local Labour Party
Premiership of Tony Blair Blair’s premiership has been termed as ‘presidential’ by various political commentators and authors. In 1997, Dan Balz of "Washington Post" narrated his take on Blair’s leadership: "Tony Blair has adopted many persons as Britain’s leader: political reformer, griever in chief, general host of Friday night town meetings, relentless enforcer of a disciplined message. Both as a candidate and as Prime Minister, Blair has embraced a presidential style of leadership geared for the age of television and the era of declining faith of political parties". Tony Blair’s presidential style of leadership was also the subject of study of Michael Foley’s book