The Blair Effect 2001–5

by Edited by Anthony Seldon , Dennis Kavanagh

• ISBN13: 9780521861427
• ISBN10: 052186142X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-11-14
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Tony Blair's strong start to his third term, with his role in capturing the Olympic Games for Britain, his statesman-like handling of the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on London, his promise of a new start to the European Union and his leadership of the G8 summit at Gleneagles, has brought his relatively lacklustre second term into sharp relief. The second term should have been the time when New Labour fulfilled its manifesto promises. So what changed between 2001 and 2005 and what was achieved? How far was Blair himself responsible, and what was Gordon Brown's influence? What was the impact of the Iraq war? And what of Blair's policy towards Europe? Anthony Seldon and Dennis Kavanagh gather together leading academics and journalists to provide an authoritative assessment of Blair's second term, including a review of New Labour in government from 1997 to the present.

Table of Contents

Notes on contributors	vii
Preface	xi
PART 1. Politics and government	1	(156)
1 The Blair premiership	3	(17)
Dennis Kavanagh
2 Parliament	20	(23)
Philip Cowley and Mark Stuart
3 Elections and public opinion	43	(25)
Pippa Norris
4 Local and central government	68	(26)
Tony Travers
5 Media management	94	(18)
Raymond Kuhn
6 The Labour Party	112	(19)
Lewis Baston and Simon Henig
7 The Conservative Party	131	(26)
Anthony Seldon and Peter Snowdon
PART 2. Economic and social policy	157	(180)
8 The Treasury and economic policy	159	(25)
David Smith
9 Mr Blair's British Business Model — capital and labour in flexible markets	184	(23)
Robert Taylor
10 Transport	207	(26)
Stephen Glaister
11 Government and judiciary	233	(23)
Louis Blom-Cooper
12 Education	256	(27)
Alan Smithers
13 The health and welfare legacy	283	(23)
Howard Glennerster
14 Equality and social justice	306	(31)
Kitty Stewart
PART 3. Wider relations	337	(93)
15 The national question	339	(23)
Iain McLean
16 Europe	362	(22)
Peter Riddell
17 Putting the world to rights: Tony Blair's foreign policy mission	384	(26)
Christopher Hill
18 The second Blair government: the verdict	410	(20)
Anthony Seldon
Commentaries	430	(23)
The meaning of the Third Way
Andrew Gamble
The reinvention of Blair
Robert Skidelsky
Foreign policy
Vernon Bognador
Bibliography	453	(14)
Index	467