Tony Blair



On May 6, 2005, Tony Blair made UK history by becoming the first Labour leader to win a third successive term. The charismatic politician - who brought 18 years of Conservative rule to an end in 1997 - gained a far narrower margin than that which returned him for a second term, however. And many pundits cited the the weakness of the opposition rather than Mr Blair's political skills as the reason for his success in 2005.

At the centre of the public's discontent was anger over the war in Iraq and disillusionment with Labour's move away from traditional left wing values. There were also concerns over the former lawyer's health after he suffered minor heart problems.

Over the years the Scotland-born leader's talent has been confirmed many times, most notably when, at the age of 43, he became the youngest British prime minister since 1812. Born on May 6, 1953, in Edinburgh, Anthony Charles Lynton Blair studied law at Oxford and was called to the bar in 1976. He joined the Labour Party in the mid Seventies, but his involvement in the party led to a growing disillusion with some of its key policies and structures, leaving him determined to revolutionise left-wing politics.

In 1975, the boyish faced lawyer met Cherie Booth, daughter of actor Tony Booth and a fellow barrister. They were married five years later. A highly successful lawyer and member of Queen's Counsel, today Cherie is the first full-time working wife to live at Number 10.

Tony spent the Eighties working his way up through the ranks of the Labour Party, a career curve which led to him being elected its leader in July 1994, following the death of John Smith. Keen to complete the Labour Party's shift towards the political centre which had been initiated by his predecessor, he removed the commitment to public ownership from the party's constitution.

When he moved his family into Downing Street after Labour won the general election in May 1997, ousting then-leader John Major with an overwhelming majority, it brought to an end 18 years of Conservative dominance. And with Tony at the helm, the Labour Party took on a radically different image. The term New Labour was coined, and the party's leader and his wife revelled in the "Cool Britannia" of the late-Nineties – a stance reflected in the party's courting of hip, young stars of the British entertainment industry.

Tony and Cherie have four children. The eldest, Euan, born in 1984, has proved a bit of a rebel, ending up in court for being "drunk and incapable". Second son Nicky was born in 1986 and a daughter, Kathryn, was born in 1988. The youngest member of the prime minister's family was a surprise arrival. In November 1999 it was announced that 45-year-old Cherie was pregnant with her fourth child, Leo, who arrived in May 2000. He was the first child born to a serving prime minister in over 150 years.