Sedgefield (UK Parliament constituency) the Member of Parliament was Tony Blair; who led a successful campaign for his party to win the 1997 general election in a landslide and thereafter served for ten years as the Prime Minister, leading the campaigns at two subsequent general elections. Blair was the first Prime Minister to lead the Labour Party to three consecutive victories. He resigned as the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield on the same day as he resigned as Prime Minister, which triggered a by-election. At the by-election on 19 July 2007, the official Labour Party candidate Phil Wilson was elected on a reduced majority
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