Tony Blair - Prime Minister of Britain, Family and Childhood

Tony Blair was born to Leo and Hazel Blair and was raised in Durham, England, where he attended ‘The Chorister School’ from 1961 to 1966.

His father was a famous attorney who ran for the parliament as a Tory in 1963, but, after suffering a serious stroke he became mute and had to abandon his political dreams. This drove his family into financial difficulties and Tony who was only 10, gradually learned to live through hardships.

After completing school, he attended the Fettes College, Edinburgh, where he used to perform rock music, taking inspiration from the great musician Mick Jagger. He left Fettes and went to the St John's College, Oxford, to study Law, where he joined the college rock band, ‘Ugly Rumors’.

At Oxford, his association with Peter Thompson, a fellow student and priest, influenced and shaped Blair’s political and religious outlook. His interest in the political affairs germinated and he decided to actively participate in politics.

After completing his graduation in 1975, he entered ‘Lincoln's Inn’, where he joined as an apprentice under Lord Chancellor, Alexander Irvine.

He stepped into the world of politics by joining the Labour Party and in 1982 he was chosen to represent the party in the parliament for Beaconsfield District. Although he lost his first election, he was nevertheless seen as a potential candidate. In 1983, he won the election, earning a seat in the parliament representing Sedgefield District.

After his election, his hard work and dedication towards the party continued to impress the party members which fuelled his political growth and propelled his rise. In 1984, he was appointed as the assistant Treasury spokesman.

As the Treasury spokesman, one of his primary moves was opposing the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher. In 1987, he was promoted to the position of spokesman of the Trade and Industry.

In 1988, he was made the Shadow Secretary of Energy by the Shadow ministry. The Shadow ministry or cabinet is an alternative cabinet comprising members from the opposition who keep a close eye on the policies and actions of the government.

Later, when Neil Kinnock, the leader of the opposition, resigned in 1992, Blair was made the Shadow Home Secretary serving under John Smith, the newly elected leader of the party.

In 1994, John Smith died unexpectedly of a cardiac arrest, and Blair was elected as the Leader of the Opposition and was also appointed to the Privy Council.

Following his election as the leader of the Labour party in the parliament, he proposed several policies pertaining to taxation, crimes and education, along with various other reformative measures. In 1996, in one of Labour Party’s conference he mentioned that ‘education, education, and education’, were his top three priorities.

The unpopularity of the Conservative leader John Major, in the wake of several scandals proved advantageous for Blair. In the 1997 general elections, the Labour Party achieved a sweeping victory over the Conservatives and on May 2, 1997, he was sworn in as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

As the new PM, he raised the taxes, announced minimum wages, implemented new employment rights, introduced new rights for the homosexuals and signed several treatises in his pursuit to unify Britain with the European Union.

In health and educational sectors as well, he introduced innumerable reforms, revoked many categories of welfare payments, implemented stringent anti-terrorism measures and passed legislation regarding the issuance of identity cards to the citizens. He vested the police force with more power which consequently increased the number of punishable offences and he also made DNA recording mandatory.

His government undertook several initiatives to reduce the level of poverty and increase the number of social services in Britain. Poverty declined to a great extent and the overall health conditions of the people also improved during his tenure. Nearly 1.7 million under-paid workers were benefitted from his minimum wage policy and over 2 million people were rescued from poverty.

He also worked for the revival of the environment and while addressing the United States Congress assured about 20% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. He also stated that, by 2010 about 10% of the energy required by Britain would be obtained from renewable resources.

During his tenure, the United Kingdom participated in five major battles: (1) 1998, when England joined hands with the U.S to attack Iraq on the latter’s failure to comply with the UN on arms reduction, (2) 1999, Kosovo War, (3) 2000, Sierra Leone Civil War, (4) 2001, After the 9/11 terror strikes in the U.S. America declared ‘War on Terror’ and Britain joined hand with the U.S. by sending troops into battle against Afghanistan (5) 2003, when U.S invaded Iraq, Britain too fully supported it by sending her troops.

His foreign policy, especially, concerning the U.S. was severely criticized and his popularity as the PM soon started to plummet. However, his involvement in the Northern Ireland Peace Process settlement garnered a lot of appreciation.

On June 7, 2001 he achieved a landslide victory in the general elections and was reelected as the Prime Minister. He was reelected to a third term on May 5, 2005.

Due to the rising casualties of British troops in the Iraq war, Blair's popularity dropped drastically and he was accused of misleading Parliament. Also, the Labour party's overall majority in the 2005 general election was reduced to 66. In view of this situation, Blair was forced to resign and on 27 June 2007 he handed over the leadership of the Labour Party to Gordon Brown.

The day he resigned, he was appointed as the Special Envoy for the United Nations, European Union, United States, and Russia to the ‘Quartet on the Middle East’ to help the Middle East facilitate its peace process.

In 2007, he set up the ‘Tony Blair Sports Foundation’ with the mission to "increase childhood participation in sports activities, especially in the North East of England, where a larger portion of children are socially excluded, and to promote overall health and prevent childhood obesity."

After his retirement, he dedicated most of his time to charitable works and also established the ‘Tony Blair Faith Foundation’, a nonprofit organization to promote understanding and tolerance among people belonging to different faiths.

He has been viewed as criminal by many human-rights activists including Desmond Tutu, Harold Pinter and Arundhati Roy who have demanded his trial in the International Criminal Court for endorsing wars and invasions.

He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush on 13 January 2009 for his extensive support in the ‘War on Terror’ and also for playing a pivotal role in attaining peace in Northern Ireland.

On 13 September 2010, he was awarded the Liberty Medal at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, by former U.S. President, Bill Clinton.

On 29 March 1980, Blair married Cherie Booth and the couple has four children.

Blair, who was an Anglican, converted to the Catholicism in secret. This information was revealed on December 22, 2007.

In 2010, his memoir titled, ‘A Journey’ was published; it is one of the fastest-selling autobiographies of all times.

After this famous British politician became the leader of the Labour Party of UK, the party’s name was changed to ‘New Labour’.

This politician was the second youngest person to become the Prime Minister of UK.

This famous politician had a son in May 2000 and became the first serving British Prime Minister in 150 years to have a child.