Prime Ministerial Case Studies

Question 1

When and what were Tony Blair’s parliamentary majorities?

Answer 1

1997: 179
2001: 167
2005: 66

Question 2

When did Blair become the leader of the Labour Party and what was his office like?

Answer 2

1994 - 2007
Blair led a united party where new labour cast out into minority the few further left wingers (including Jeremy Corbyn). However, the Iraq war and further events led to Blair stepping down in 2007.

Question 3

What were Blair’s key characteristics in his style of leadership?

Answer 3

• he was part of a ‘collective leadership’ where he focused mostly on foreign affairs, Gordon brown would handle most economic policy and domestic social policy would be handled by jack straw.
• as time moved on however, his party popularity weened and some say he overstepped his authority.

Question 4

Examples of strong control foreign intervention in his office:

Answer 4

• he had high control in his military campaigns in Sierra Leone (2000) and Kosovo (1999).
• In Sierra Leone, British forces helped stabilize the country during its civil war.
• In Kosovo, NATO intervened to stop ethnic cleansing.

-Blair’s involvement in the Good Friday agreement was also crucial:
- he ‘maintained diplomatic pressure’ on Sinn Féin and the Ulster Unionists.

Question 5

Examples of a lack of control with Tony Blair:

Answer 5

• After his mistake in believing Saddam Hussein’s regime had weapons of mass destruction in 2004, then sending uk troops to join US ones in Iraq, Blair lost a lot of control over his party.
• Blair then started to see the labour parties factions emerge, the ‘blairites’ and ‘brownites’; it can be said also that brown had too much power as it was and was given masses of independance
• he also received four defeats in the House of Commons over eight months in 2005.

Question 6

Examples of Blair in positions of high control:

Answer 6

• His ‘sofa cabinet’ was all very close and most of the time agreed with him on policy initiatives.
• he invoked the the Parliament Act in 2004 and bypassed the House of Lords when they tried to delay the Hunting Act 2004 to do with fox hunting and dogs killing them.
  - this shows high amounts of control as lots of traditional AB class people were against it but he could afford it because he had a high majority.
• in his first 8 years in office, Tony Blair didn’t suffer any defeats in the House of Commons demonstrating how new labour appealed to a wide spectrum of politicians.