Tony Blair general election defeats) the Labour Party had to demonstrate that it had made a decisive break from its left-wing past, in order to win an election again. In May 1997, the Labour Party won a landslide general election victory, the largest in its history. Blair, at 43 years of age, became the youngest Prime Minister since 1812. In September 1997, Blair attained early personal popularity, receiving a 93% public approval rating, after his public response to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. The Labour Party went on to win two more general elections under his leadership: in 2001, in
11 Downing Street Soane. When Tony Blair became Prime Minister in 1997 he chose to reside in Number 11, rather than Number 10, as it has a larger living area; Blair at that time was living with his wife and their several young children, while Gordon Brown, his Chancellor of the Exchequer, was at that point still a bachelor. In 2007, when Brown became Prime Minister, he at first chose to live in Number 11, but soon moved back to Number 10; Brown was by then married but had fewer children than the Blairs. Following the 2010 general election, the incoming prime minister,