Tony Blair Tony Blair Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of the Opposition before becoming Prime Minister and remains the last British Labour Party leader to have won a general election. From 1983 to 2007, Blair was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sedgefield. He was elected Labour Party leader in July 1994, following the sudden death of his predecessor, John Smith. Under Blair's leadership, the party used
Premiership of Tony Blair "The British Presidency: Tony Blair and the Politics of Public Leadership". Foley uses Blair’s premiership as a case study to further the ‘presidentialisation thesis’, which is a model used to study the growing power of the British Prime Minister at the behest of the Cabinet, and the Parliament. According to Foley, centralisation of power under Blair, and his broader conduct in office points to the cementing of presidential tendencies in British politics. He writes: “The British Prime Minister has evolved, and is evolving away from what a Prime Minister used to do and used to be… Blair’s premiership represents another