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
The Trial of Tony Blair A short time before the 2010 general election, Tony Blair goes on British television and gives a political broadcast, in which he announces his resignation as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The Labour Party, of which Blair is leader, is trailing David Cameron's Conservative Party in the polls. However, within hours of Blair's departure, the polling trends dramatically reverse with respondents overwhelmingly supporting Labour's new leader, Gordon Brown. Fearing that his legacy is under severe threat, Blair attempts to sabotage Labour's election campaign, leaking an inflammatory e-mail sent from Brown to Blair wherein the former admits that tax hikes