Tony Blair

The Right Honourable Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953 in Edinburgh, Scotland) is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury and Minister for the Civil Service. He has led the Labour Party since July 1994, (following the death of John Smith in May of that year) and brought Labour into power with a landslide victory in the 1997 general election, replacing John Major as Prime Minister and ending 18 years of Conservative government. He is now the Labour Party's longest-serving Prime Minister, and the only person to have led the party to three consecutive general election victories, just as Margaret Thatcher was the only Conservative Prime Minister to win three consecutive general elections.

Caricature and satire of Blair

In opposition under John Smith, the ITV satirical puppet show Spitting Image depicted Blair within the Shadow Cabinet as a schoolboy with a high-pitched voice and bottle-green uniform, complete with cap. The first show after Smith's death featured Blair singing "I'm going to be the leader! I'm going to be the leader!" over and over. Once settled in as leader, the programme (which was in its last years) changed its caricature of Blair to have a small face with an outsized toothy grin. The show ended before Labour gained power.

Related Topics:
ITV - Satirical - Puppet - Spitting Image

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Since Blair became Prime Minister, Private Eye has run a regular feature called the St Albion Parish News based on the Blair government. In this series, the parish incumbent ('Rev. A.R.P. Blair MA (Oxon)') combines a relentless trendiness with a tendency to moralise and to exclude all those who criticise him. The series highlights Blair's perceived penchant for spin and his zealous enthusiasms in relation to recent political events.

Related Topics:
Private Eye - St Albion Parish News - Spin

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In his first term of office, Blair was the subject of a satirical comic strip Dan Blair in The Times. This strip spoofed the comic book hero Dan Dare and his nemesis, the Mekon, who represented William Hague in the strip, portrayed with a very large forehead. He has also been parodied in the comic 2000 AD in the series B.L.A.I.R. 1 (a spoof of the old-fashioned strip M.A.C.H.1 written by David Bishop) where he acts as a futuristic crime fighter controlled by an artificial intelligence known as "Doctor Spin".

Related Topics:
The Times - Dan Dare - William Hague - 2000 AD - M.A.C.H.1 - David Bishop - Artificial intelligence

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Because of Blair's close co-operation with the USA, he has, since 2001, been called "Bush's poodle" and "Governor of the 51st state". On BBC TV's Newsnight on February 6, 2003 a member of the audience said he "agreed with something the Right Honourable Member for Texas North said a few minutes ago" (transcript), a reference to the protocol of the United Kingdom House of Commons of referring to Members by the constituency they represent and Blair's closeness to the former Governor of Texas, President George W. Bush. The alliance between the two men is somewhat upsetting to many supporters of his party, which traditionally allies itself with the Democrats. His name has been deliberately mis-spelled 'Tony Bliar' (sometimes 'B. Liar') by critics of his actions and his policies (particularly his stance on Iraq).

Related Topics:
Poodle - Governor - 51st state - Newsnight - February 6 - 2003 - The Right Honourable - Texas - United Kingdom House of Commons - Democrats

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Taken overall, Blair has avoided the traditional pigeonholes of British political leaders. He has often (particularly after the invasion of Iraq) been labelled as insincere ("King of Spin", "Phoney Tony"), and has been accused of cronyism due to his perceived penchant for promoting his friends to top jobs. In his early years, Blair was often criticised as an unscrupulous opportunist who was solely interested in doing anything that would get him elected. More recently, his unpopular policy supporting the US over Iraq has demonstrated a politician with more sincere commitment to his own policies despite public opposition.

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