Mrs.

BOUALEM Fadia

Master 2 (Third semester)

Lesson 4

Tony Blair, "New Labour" and the Third Way

The "Wilderness Years" (1979-1997):

After its defeat in the 1979 election the Labour Party underwent a period of bitter internal rivalry between the

left-wing, represented by Michael Foot and Tony Benn (whose supporters dominated the party's organisation of

local activists), and the right-wing represented by Denis Healey. The election of Michael Foot as leader in 1980

dismayed many on the right of the party who believed that Labour was becoming too left-wing and potentially

unelectable. In 1981 a group of four former cabinet ministers (Shirley Williams, William Rodgers, Roy Jenkins,

and David Owen), who were from the right of the Labour Party, issued the "Limehouse Declaration" before

forming the Social Democratic Party.

The Labour Party was defeated heavily in the 1983 general election, winning only 27.6% of the vote, its

lowest share since 1918. Michael Foot promptly resigned as leader and was replaced by the moderate Neil Kinnock

who progressively moved the party towards the centre. Labour improved its performance in 1987, gaining 20 seats

and so reducing the Conservative majority to 102 from 143. Neil Kinnock was seen as right-wing by the Labour

Left, especially the so-called Militant Tendency. Kinnock later forced this group out of the party and they would

later form the Socialist Party of England and Wales and the Scottish Socialist Party.

In November 1990 Margaret Thatcher was forced out of office by her colleagues and replaced as Prime

Minister by John Major. By the time of the 1992 general election the economy was in recession and, despite the

personal unpopularity of Neil Kinnock, Labour looked as if it could win. The party had dropped its policy of

Unilateral Nuclear Disarmament and other key policy differences with the Conservatives were ended as Labour

dropped its policies of re-nationalisation of public utilities and Trade Union rights. Most opinion polls showed the
party to have a slight lead over the Conservatives, though rarely sufficient for a majority, or else predicted a hung

parliament, but in the event the Conservatives were returned to power, though with a much reduced majority of 20.

After this unexpected defeat, Kinnock resigned as leader and was replaced by John Smith. Soon after the

1992 election the Conservative government ran into trouble when on Black Wednesday it was forced to take

Britain out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. After this disaster for the Conservatives, Labour moved

ahead in the opinion polls. John Smith's sudden death from a heart attack in May 1994 made way for Tony Blair to

lead the party.

New Labour:

After the series of elections defeats (1979, 1981, 1987, 1992) Labour leaders increasingly understood that

they had to change the Party’s ideological line. After the last defeat, John Smith who became leader in 1992,

decided to modernise his party but died only a short time later. Tony Blair, elected leader in 1994, continued to

move the party further to the centre, abandoning the largely symbolic Clause Four at the 1995 mini-conference in a

strategy to increase the party's appeal to "middle England". More than a simple 're-branding', however, the project

would draw upon a new political 'third way', particularly informed by the thought of the British sociologist

Anthony Giddens. "New Labour" was first termed as an alternative branding for the Labour Party, dating from a

conference slogan first used by the Labour Party in 1994, which was later seen in a draft manifesto published by

the party in 1996, called New Labour, New Life For Britain. It was a continuation of the trend that had begun

under the leadership of Neil Kinnock. "New Labour" as a name has no official status, but remains in common use

to distinguish modernisers from those holding to more traditional positions, normally referred to as "Old Labour".

The Third Way as a concept:

In Britain, the concept of the third way is most closely associated in academic circles with Anthony

Giddens. But the idea of a ‘third way’ is not entirely new. Harold Macmillan adopted a middle way for the

Conservative Party in the 1930s. Essentially the third way is an attempt to find a middle route between left and

right, between state socialist planning and free-market capitalism. It appeals to centre-left progressives and

moderate social democrats. Giddens uses the term to refer to social democratic renewal. In his view, renewal was
necessary in the late 1990s to adapt to the probably irreversible transformation of Britain by Thatcherism, the

revival of free-market capitalism and the realities of globalisation.

The aim of the third way is basically to reject the old left and the new right and combine a market economy

with a decent society, social justice with economic efficiency. Both markets and state should be disciplined by a

public interest test. Legislation should provide redress for consumers and monitor the quality of state services.

Social inclusion refers in its broadest sense to citizenship, with its civil and political rights, its obligations and its

opportunities for self-fulfilment and to make a contribution to society. It involves everyone having access to the

requirements for a decent life, including education, health care, work and income. The old social democracy was

likely to provide rights unconditionally. Now the rights of citizens are accompanied by reciprocal duties and it is

vital that there is mutual responsibility between individuals and institutions. For example, parents have the right to

send their children to school but parents also are responsible for encouraging their children and supporting their

school.

New Labour in government (1997-2010):The Labour Party won the 1997 general election with a landslide

majority of 179; it was the largest Labour majority ever, and the largest swing to a political party achieved since

1945. Among the early acts of Tony Blair's government were the establishment of the national minimum wage, the

devolution of power to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and the re-creation of a city-wide government body

for London, the Greater London Authority, with its own elected-mayor. Combined with a Conservative opposition

that had yet to organise effectively under William Hague, and the continuing popularity of Blair, Labour went on to

win the 2001 election with a similar majority, dubbed the "quiet landslide".

Blair’s Third Way

There is no clear Blairite philosophy, rather Blairism represents a retreat from ideology: ‘what matters is

what works’. A conscious aim of the Blair leadership has been to gather many of the moderates in British politics

into ‘Tony’s big tent’. In the process, critics allege that he has transformed the Labour Party, shifting it not just

from a socialist into a social democratic party, but abandoning even social democracy as well. They portray him as

a modern-day New Liberal of the early twentieth century, the spiritual heir to Lloyd George and Asquith rather

than a descendant of the previous post-war Labour prime ministers, Attlee, Wilson and Callaghan.
 While in opposition before the 1997 election and subsequently, Tony Blair has adopted some terminology

more usually associated with the Conservatives. He has employed terms such as ‘the market’, ‘achievement’,

‘opportunity’ and ‘aspirations’. New Labour accepted the economic efficiency of free markets and believed that

they could be detached from capitalism to achieve the aims of socialism, while maintaining the efficiency of

capitalism. Markets were also useful for giving power to consumers and allowing citizens to make their own

decisions and act responsibly.

New Labour embraced market economics because they believed they could be used for their social aims, as

well as economic efficiency. The party did not believe that public ownership was efficient or desirable; ensuring

that they were not seen to be ideologically pursuing centralised public ownership was important to the party. In

government, the party relied on public-private partnerships and private finance initiatives to raise funds and

mitigate fears of a 'tax and spend' policy or excessive borrowing. Actions included giving control of interest rates

to the Bank of England while making it independent, introducing tax credits, and introducing university tuition

fees. Companies were allowed to be bought up by foreigners, and foreign labour was allowed to migrate to Britain

more freely.

The economy has grown at an annual per capita rate of 2.4% a year. This is rather better than the average

for the last half century, which is 2.1%. Meanwhile, inflation has been almost bang on its target. Employment has

hit record levels. Britain has allowed itself to become the most global large economy in the world.

On the other hand, much of the language of Tony Blair still echoes traditional Labour vocabulary. He talks

of community, cooperation, fairness, partnership, society and solidarity. Some of the actions of his government

seem very much in the Labour tradition: constitutional reform, devolution of regional power to Wales and Northern

Ireland, the introduction of a minimum wage, signature of the Social Chapter, the New Deal work programme,

Human Rights Act, Freedom of information, and the injection of funding into education and the National Health

Service. In truth, Blair has been non-doctrinaire, borrowing from several traditions, socialist, social democratic,

New Liberal, pragmatic One Nation Conservative and even Thatcherite, as the circumstances seem to make

appropriate.

A perceived turning point was when Tony Blair controversially allied himself with US President George W. Bush

in supporting the Iraq War, which caused him to lose much of his political support. The UN Secretary-General,
among many, considered the war illegal. The Iraq War was deeply unpopular in most western countries, with

Western governments divided in their support and under pressure from worldwide popular protests. At the 2005

election, Labour was re-elected for a third term, but with a reduced majority of 66. The decisions that led up to the

Iraq war and its subsequent conduct are currently the subject of Sir John Chilcot'sIraq Inquiry.

Blair's role as Prime Minister was particularly visible in foreign and security policy. From the start of the War on

Terror in 2001, Blair strongly supported United States foreign policy, notably by participating in the 2001 invasion

of Afghanistan and 2003 invasion of Iraq. In his first six years, Blair had British troops ordered into battle five

times — more than any other prime minister in British history. Blair is the Labour Party's longest-serving Prime

Minister; the only person to have led the Labour Party to three consecutive general election victories; and the only

Labour Prime Minister to serve consecutive terms, more than one of which was at least four years long. A "cash for

peerages" scandal under Tony Blair resulted in the drying up of many major sources of donations. Between

January and March 2008, the Labour Party received just over £3 million in donations and were £17 million in debt;

compared to the Conservatives' £6 million in donations and £12 million in debt.

Tony Blair announced in September 2006 that he would quit as leader within the year, though he had been under

pressure to quit earlier than May 2007 in order to get a new leader in place before the May elections which were

expected to be disastrous for Labour. In the event, the party did lose power in Scotland to a minority Scottish

National Party government at the 2007 elections and, shortly after this, Tony Blair resigned as Prime Minister and

was replaced by his Chancellor, Gordon Brown. Although the party experienced a brief rise in the polls after this,

its popularity soon slumped to its lowest level since the days of Michael Foot. During May 2008, Labour suffered

heavy defeats in the London mayoral election, local elections and the loss in the Crewe and Nantwich by-election,

culminating in the party registering its worst ever opinion poll result since records began in 1943, of 23%, with

many citing Brown's leadership as a key factor.