Blair's 10 years in office soured by Iraq war
Iraq-UK, Politics, 5/1/2007

UK's Prime Minister Tony Blair set a new milestone today by becoming Britain's first Labor leader to serve 10 years in office.

When his party was first elected in May 1997, Blair at the age of 43 was the country's youngest prime minister since Lord Liverpool in 1812.

His next milestone would have come at the end of 2008 when he would have overtaken Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's 11-and-a-half years in office between 1979 and 1990, which was the longest by any premier in over a century.

But many observers feel that such ambitions were curtailed by leading Britain headfirst into the ill-fated US-led war against Iraq in 2003. It resulted in Blair declaring before his last election victory in 2005 that he would not seek a further term.

A decade ago, he was swept into Downing Street on a tide of optimism following the first of two landslide victories, promising to breathe new life into Britain's tired institutions and restore trust in politics.

His period in power did see one of the longest periods of economic growth in Britain's history and big increases in spending on schools and hospitals.

Other landmark policies included the introduction of a minimum wage, controversial tuition fees for higher education, constitutional reform such as devolution in Scotland and Wales and progress in the Northern Ireland peace process.

Yet while he is the only Labor prime minister to have won three successive general elections and serve more than one full consecutive term, the beginnings of the decline in his perception was in launching the war on terror in the aftermath of 9/11.

Military campaigns, led by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, not only produced the biggest-ever peace demonstrations ever seen in London, but cause bitter divisions within his own party.

Despite his pledge to clean up the image of politicians, his final year in office have been overshadowed by a police investigation into the alleged sale of honors, involving some of the prime minister's closest aides.

Previous Stories:
  US refusing Iraq evidence at UK inquest   (4/16/2007)
  Blair called to account over Iraq war in stage play   (4/16/2007)
  Concern about back room decisions on Iraqis oil rights: UK MPs   (3/26/2007)

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