Blair Governments

Question 1

What was Blair’s background?

Answer 1

His father was a Conservative supporter and Blair had not joined Labour util after he had graduated from Oxford.

Question 2

How did Blair’s background affect his ideology?

Answer 2

It made it easier for him to move away from traditional Labour Party policies and beliefs since he joined so late.

Question 3

What did he and fellow Labour modernisers argue?

Answer 3

Significant change was necessary if the Labour Party was to remain relevant in the modern world.

Question 4

Who were the big 3 modernisers in the Labour Party in the late 1990s?

Answer 4

Blair, Brown and Mandelson.

Question 5

What could Labour no longer rely on electorally?

Answer 5

The working-class vote solely election them into government.

Question 6

What did Blair portray himself as?

Answer 6

An ordinary person - he wore casual clothes, played in a rock band, and watched and supported Newcastle United.

Question 7

How did he show he was in touch with the electorate?

Answer 7

When Diana died in 1997 he called her ‘the peoples princess’ in a national speech. This tapped into what many people were thinking, contrasting starkly with the royal family who faced unprecedented criticism for their lack of empathy.

Question 8

Following his ‘peoples princess’ speech, what did Blair’s support within the Party soar to?

Answer 8

93%

Question 9

What was the Third Way?

Answer 9

A middle way between Old Labour’s socialist ideals and the Thatcherite policies of the 1980s.

Question 10

How did Blair follow the Third Way in his first years in office?

Answer 10

Much of the TU reform was accepted, he would not renationalise private industry, since he argued it didn’t matter who provided public services as long as they were provided.

Question 11

What did critics argue about Blair’s Third Way?

Answer 11

He did not really stand for anything, he had jettisoned traditional Labour policies and accepted Thatcherite ideas simply to win power.

Question 12

What had strengthened calls of devolution in Scotland?

Answer 12

The unpopularity of Cons, and by 1997 there were no Cons MPs in Scotland, so voters resented that they were ruled by a party none had voted for.

Question 13

What did the Scottish voting populous like about the Labour manifesto?

Answer 13

They promised referendums on devolution.

Question 14

In the 1997 Devolution referendums, what did the Scottish vote for?

Answer 14

Devolving power to a Scottish parliament and this parliament having tax-raising powers. This led to a Scottish Assembly being established.

Question 15

Where else was power devolved following the 1997 devolution?

Answer 15

A Welsh Assembly in Cardiff, although it had limited powers.
NI had a devolved assembly also following the GFA.

Question 16

What was a political reform in 1999?

Answer 16

The introduction of an elected mayor for London.

Question 17

In what way did devolution not have the intended effects?

Answer 17

The SNP and Plaid Cymru in Scotland and Wales respectively continued to gain support, which was unexpected.

Question 18

Who did Blair block from the Mayor of London office in 2000 and why?

Answer 18

Ken Livingstone as he represented all that was wrong with the ‘loony left’ and would harm the modernised image that Labour had created.

Question 19

What was Livingstone’s response to being blocked?

Answer 19

He left the Party, ran independently and won, so Blair was forced to accept him back into the Party.

Question 20

What was the House of Lords reform?

Answer 20

It ended with a messy compromise in which hereditary peers were not abolished but cut to 92 - seen as unsatisfactory by everyone.

Question 21

Which Roy Jenkins-led commission had no effect in 1999?

Answer 21

He was commissioned to investigate whether or not the first-past-the-post system should be changed. He concluded that it should but no changes were made.

Question 22

What was the Freedom of Information Act?

Answer 22

In 2000 it was passed, giving people the right to request information from public bodies. By 2006 over 100,000 requests were being made a year.

Question 23

What was the impact of the FOI Act 2000?

Answer 23

Blair had not fully realised its implications as he had only just come into office but its existence would prevent politicians from making difficult decisions because they feared their actions would become public knowledge.

Question 24

What was the Human Rights Act 1998?

Answer 24

The European Convention on Human Rights was incorporated into British law, so British judges could use it in their rulings.

Question 25

What was the impact of the Human Rights Act 1998?

Answer 25

In 2004 the government had to amend anti-terrorist legislation which allowed indefinite detainment of UK non-nationals suspected of terrorist activities since this was incompatible with the Act.

Question 26

What did Blair promise would be Labour’s key commitment?

Answer 26

‘education, education, education’.

Question 27

How did Blair follow up on his education commitment?

Answer 27

They kept the league tables and inspections that Major introduced, targets extended and specialist schools encouraged.

Question 28

How did Blair’s time as shadow Home Sec shape his view on crime?

Answer 28

‘Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime’, there were measures to reduce social exclusion but these were paired with longer prison sentences.

Question 29

What did Labour promise at the 2001 election what would improve quality of public services?

Answer 29

More investment and reform in health and education. There would be more teachers and doctors but more accountability to parents and patients to ensure improving exam results and shorter waiting times.

Question 30

What did Blair find himself disappointed by following the 2001 election?

Answer 30

Slow progress of NHS and education reforms, he said he should have been radical earlier.

Question 31

What were the main crises Blair faced domestically?

Answer 31

Rising fuel prices led to a 2000 blockade by farmers and lorry drivers.
10 million animals culled due to foot and mouth disease.

Question 32

What did urban voters generally think about Labour?

Answer 32

They didn’t understand their issues and were too urban-focused.

Question 33

What was the conflict over the dog-hunting ban?

Answer 33

There was a long battle with the Lords over this, then the Countryside Alliance had a 500,000 person march which pushed it through finally.

Question 34

What was the agreement behind Brown not running against Blair in the leadership election?

Answer 34

Blair would have complete control over economy policy, and then take over as PM after an unspecified amount of time.

Question 35

What were Brown’s economic aims coming into power?

Answer 35

Keep inflation low, keep spending under control and prove to Middle England that Labour was pro-business and could be trusted to run the economy. This would enable them to escape from their ‘tax-and-spend’ image as a party.

Question 36

What did Brown do with the Bank of England?

Answer 36

Made them independent from the Party, so the government would set an inflation target and the Bank of England would have to set interest rates accordingly. He also set Treasury rules as to how much the government could borrow.

Question 37

In what respect were Brown’s initial economic plans ‘prudence with purpose’?

Answer 37

A stable growing economy allows for improvement of public services, so after 2001 there was an injection of money into public services. The big investments were reflected in new schools, hospitals and pay rises for doctors and teachers.

Question 38

What did Labour argue about their spending habits?

Answer 38

It was necessary to make up for years of under-funding and neglect under Thatcher and Major.

Question 39

How did Labour avoid raising taxes?

Answer 39

They continued to find private sources of funding for improvements to public services. There was some criticism of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) as buildings got completed quickly but debts piled for the future.

Question 40

What had Brown achieved by 2007?

Answer 40

An unprecedented 10 years as Chancellor.

Question 41

How was the economy under Blair overall?

Answer 41

Inflation was kept under control, unemployment was a record low, living standards remained high and the consumer economy boomed.

Question 42

What was the criticism of the economy under Brown?

Answer 42

The consumer boom was based on rising house prices and high levels of credit-card spending and personal debt, rather than increased productivity.