Tony Blair (1997-Present)
Tony Blair was born in Edinburgh and educated at Oxford to become a barrister. He entered politics and won his first seat at Sedgefield in the 1983 General Election. From there on he made a quick rise up the ranks and was promoted to the shadow Treasury front bench by 1984. By 1988 he had become Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and later he moved to become the employment brief.

It was only after the 1992 election that Blair began to really get noticed and Labour’s new leader, John Smith, promoted Blair to Shadow Home Secretary where he pledged that Labour will be tough on crime. Smith passed away unexpectedly in 1994 and in the ensuing contest Blair won the majority of the vote to become Labour’s new leader. Blair launched his campaign of modernizing the Labour Party at once and fought a hard-hitting campaign so that by the 1997 General Election Labour won by a landslide. He also became the youngest Prime Minister since Lord Liverpool in 1812.

He was again re-elected with a landslide victory in the 2001 elections. But has since faced a number of controversial issues – namely, the war on Iraq.

"Education is the best economic policy there is."

"This party will, ultimately, be judged on its ability to deliver on its promise"

"I didn't come into politics to change the Labour Party. I came into politics to change the country."

"You only require two things in life: your sanity and your wife"

"Education education education "

"'Now is not the time for sound-bites. I can feel the hand of history on my shoulder' - On the signing of the Good Friday Agreement"

"If this is new labour, why do i feel so old?"

"The trouble with the French is that they have no word for entrepreneur."

“Conflict is not inevitable, but disarmament is... everyone now accepts that if there is a default by Saddam the international community must act to enforce its will”.

“I didn't come into politics to change the Labour Party. I came into politics to change the country”.

“I may find this [Saddam Hussein's] regime abhorrent - any normal person would - but the survival of it is in his hands”.

“If there is one thing Britain should learn from the last 50 years, it is this: Europe can only get more important for us”.

“It is not an arrogant government that chooses priorities, it's an irresponsible government that fails to choose”.

“Labour is the party of law and order in Britain today. Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime”.

“Mine is the first generation able to contemplate the possibility that we may live our entire lives without going to war or sending our children to war”.
“Once she [his wife] goes to sleep it takes a minor nuclear explosion to wake her”.

“Power without principle is barren, but principle without power is futile. This is a party of government and I will lead it as party of government”.

“The art of leadership is saying no, not yes. It is very easy to say yes”.

“The threat from Saddam Hussein and weapons of mass destruction - chemical, biological, potentially nuclear weapons capability - that threat is real”.

“There is no meeting of minds, no point of understanding with such terror. Just a choice: Defeat it or be defeated by it. And defeat it we must”.

“This is not a battle between the United States of America and terrorism, but between the free and democratic world and terrorism”.

“We, therefore, here in Britain stand shoulder to shoulder with our American friends in this hour of tragedy, and we, like them, will not rest until this evil is driven from our world”.