The Blair Effect

Tony Blair's second term promised great things at home and abroad. Having laid the foundations of his premiership in his first term, this should have been the time when New Labour fulfilled its manifesto promises. The Government enjoyed the tremendous benefits of a strong economy, a rock solid majority in the Commons and a quiescent Labour movement. So what changed between 2001 and 2005 and what was achieved? How far was Blair himself responsible, and what was Gordon Brown's influence? What was the impact of the Iraq war? And what of Blair's policy towards Europe? In this fourth book on the political impact of British prime ministers, Anthony Seldon and Dennis Kavanagh gather together leading academics and journalists to provide an authoritative assessment of Blair's second term, including a review of the net 'Blair Effect' from the first New Labour term in 1997 to the present.