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
Premiership of Tony Blair ministers, including, Graham Allen, Mo Mowlam and Claire Short. The Butler Review of 2004 also criticised Blair’s style of sofa government. Various authors and writers have criticised the application of the presidentialisation thesis on the premiership of Tony Blair and have instead defended Blair. They have termed the use of presidential analogies for Blair as an unfair comparison between two systems that are fundamentally different. According to Richard Heffernan, for example, British Prime Ministers, including Blair, have dispensed their duties in a parliamentary model of governance, which is essentially very different from presidential models, which are largely based on the