Tony Blair
Tony Blair was a Labour politician, member of the Parliament, and prime minister of the United Kingdom.
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History
Blair entered politics in 1982 with several unsuccessful elections. He stood as a Labour candidate for the local council in Hackney, a borough of London. Later that same year, he contested a safe Conservative seat in a by-election.
Blair first won election to the Parliament in the July 1983 general elections, despite Labour losing the election overall. By 1987 he was a member of the shadow cabinet. John Smith died in May 1994, forcing a leadership contest in July. Blair's candidacy was notably supported by fellow shadow cabinet member Brown; they struck a deal that Brown would eventually succeed him as party leader. Blair won the leadership contest and proceeded to realign the party away from its history of nationalization policies and towards a 'democratic socialist' label.
Blair led the party to a landslide victory over the Major government in the May 1997 general elections. His term as PM is notable for how many times he deployed the British army. Under his leadership, the UK was involved in the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and the multilateral interventions in Kosovo and Sierra Leone.
Blair began to signal his resignation in 2004. He finally did step down in 2007, both as PM and from his seat in the Parliament, and accepted appointment as envoy to the Quartet on the Middle East.