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*[[John Hutton (Labour MP)|John Hutton]] — [[Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster]] ([[Cabinet Office]])
*[[John Hutton (Labour MP)|John Hutton]] — [[Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster]] ([[Cabinet Office]])
*[[Des Browne]] — [[Chief Secretary to the Treasury]]
*[[Des Browne]] — [[Chief Secretary to the Treasury]]
⚫
*[[David Miliband]] — [[Minister of State for Communities and Local Government]]
*[[Ian McCartney]] — [[Minister Without Portfolio]] and [[Party Chair]]
*[[Ian McCartney]] — [[Minister Without Portfolio]] and [[Party Chair]]
Also attending Cabinet:
⚫
*[[David Miliband]] — [[Minister of State for Communities and Local Government]]
*[[Hilary Armstrong]] — [[Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury]] and Government [[Chief Whip]]
*[[Hilary Armstrong]] — [[Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury]] and Government [[Chief Whip]]


Revision as of 13:50, 17 July 2011

Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1997-2007.

Tony Blair was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for three successive parliamentary terms from 1997-2007. His Cabinet was reshuffled for each new parliament as well as changed during the three periods.

Formation

After 18 years in opposition, Labour ousted the Tories in the May 1997 election with a 179-seat majority. The prime minister Tony Blair, who turned 44 just days after leading Labour to power, was the youngest prime minister of the 20th century.

Blair quickly wiped away memories of the troubled Labour governments led by Harold Wilson and James Callaghan as the economic recovery masterminded by John Major's Tories (who received little credit at the polls for this achievement) continued and unemployment continued to fall. While other developed countries, notably Japan, were hit by a financial crisis during Blair's first time in office, Britain's economy remained strong.

In September 2000, however, protests against fuel prices intensified across the country and the new Tory leader William Hague exploited the situation by pointing out to voters just how much fuel prices had risen under Labour. This sparked a brief Tory lead in the opinion polls - the first in eight years - but once the protests and consequent fuel shortages ended, Labour led the opinion polls once more. Blair was so confident of re-election that he called a general election for 3 May, but this was postponed until 7 June due to the foot and mouth crisis. This led to a brief crisis in the agricultural and tourism industries, but did little to shake a still-strong economy and the voters responded by re-electing Blair with an only slightly reduced majority.

Tory leader William Hague, whose party barely improved on their disastrous election result of 1997, stepped down after the election and was succeeded by Iain Duncan Smith.

By the time the next general election was on the horizon, Blair and Labour were looking well positioned for a record third successive term in government. Unemployment remained low and the economy remained strong with more than a decade of unbroken growth, and education and healthcare had changed for the better as a result of expenditure by Labour.

However, the Labour government had attracted controversy by sending British troops to fight in Afghanistan in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001, and even more so 18 months later when it joined the American-led invasion of Iraq 18 months later - particularly when it emerged that the ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's alleged nuclear weapons were never found and serious questions were raised about the issue of going to war. Although the dictatorship regimes in both of these countries were swiftly ended by British and American troops, the troops remained there and do so to this day.

Soon after the invasion of Iraq, Labour support in the opinion polls fell and the Tories actually drew level with them in at least one poll during 2003. However, this did little to end speculation about the future of their unpopular leader Iain Duncan-Smith and in October 2003 he was ousted from the leadership by Michael Howard, who stood unopposed for the leadership role and took control without a leadership contest.

The election on 5 May 2005 saw Labour win their historic third successive term in power, though their majority now stood at 66 seats - compared to 167 four years earlier - and they failed to gain any new seats. Blair had already declared that the new term in parliament would be his last.

Fate

Blair remained as prime minister and Labour Party leader for a further two years, stepping down on 24 June 2007 and being succeeded by chancellor Gordon Brown.

By this stage, Labour's days in government were starting to look numbered, and Blair's decision to step down was perhaps seen as a tactic of boosting Labour's chances of a fourth successive election win. David Cameron had been elected to the Tory leadership in December 2005, and since then the opinion polls had shown Labour lose the lead to the Tories and regain it several times.

The Cabinet

OFFICE NAME TERM
Prime Minister
First Lord of the Treasury
Minister for the Civil Service		 Tony Blair 1997–2007
Deputy Prime Minister
First Secretary of State		 John Prescott 1997–2007
Chancellor of the Exchequer
Second Lord of the Treasury		 Gordon Brown 1997–2007
Lord Chancellor The Lord Irvine of Lairg 1997–2003
  The Lord Falconer of Thoroton 2003–2007
Leader of the House of Commons Ann Taylor 1997–1998
  Margaret Beckett 1998–2001
  Robin Cook 2001–2003
  John Reid 2003
  Peter Hain 2003–2005
  Geoff Hoon 2005–2006
  Jack Straw 2006–2007
Lord President of the Council Ann Taylor 1997–1998
  Margaret Beckett 1998–2001
  Robin Cook 2001–2003
  John Reid 2003
  The Lord Williams of Mostyn 2003
  The Baroness Amos 2003–2007
Lord Privy Seal The Lord Richard 1997–1998
  The Baroness Jay of Paddington 1998–2001
  The Lord Williams of Mostyn 2001–2003
  Peter Hain 2003–2005
  Geoff Hoon 2005–2006
  Jack Straw 2006–2007
Leader of the House of Lords The Lord Richard 1997–1998
  The Baroness Jay of Paddington 1998–2001
  The Lord Williams of Mostyn 2001–2003
  The Baroness Amos 2003–2007
Foreign Secretary Robin Cook 1997–2001
  Jack Straw 2001–2006
  Margaret Beckett 2006–2007
Home Secretary Jack Straw 1997–2001
  David Blunkett 2001–2004
  Charles Clarke 2004–2006
  John Reid 2006–2007
Secretary of State for Defence George Robertson 1997–1999
  Geoff Hoon 1999–2005
  John Reid 2005–2006
  Des Browne 2006–2007
Secretary of State for Education and Employment David Blunkett 1997–2001
Secretary of State for Education and Skills Estelle Morris 2001–2002
  Charles Clarke 2002–2004
  Ruth Kelly 2004–2006
  Alan Johnson 2006–2007
Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Jack Cunningham 1997–1998
  Nick Brown 1998–2001
Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Margaret Beckett 2001–2006
  David Miliband 2006–2007
Secretary of State for Health Frank Dobson 1997–1999
  Alan Milburn 1999–2003
  John Reid 2003–2005
  Patricia Hewitt 2005–2007
Secretary of State for Social Security Harriet Harman 1997–1998
  Alistair Darling 1998–2001
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Alistair Darling 2001–2002
  Andrew Smith 2002–2004
  Alan Johnson 2004–2005
  David Blunkett 2005
  John Hutton 2005–2007
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry Margaret Beckett 1997–1998
  Peter Mandelson 1998
  Stephen Byers 1999–2001
  Patricia Hewitt 2001–2005
  Alan Johnson 2005–2006
  Alistair Darling 2006–2007
Secretary of State for International Development Clare Short 1997–2003
  The Baroness Amos 2003
  Hilary Benn 2003–2007
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Chris Smith 1997–2001
  Tessa Jowell 2001–2007
Secretary of State for Environment, Transport and the Regions John Prescott 1997–2001
Minister for Transport Gavin Strang 1997–1998
  John Reid 1998–1999
  Helen Liddell 1999
  Gus Macdonald 1999–2001
Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions Stephen Byers 2001–2002
Secretary of State for Transport Alistair Darling 2002–2006
  Douglas Alexander 2006–2007
Secretary of State for Wales Ron Davies 1997–1998
  Alun Michael 1998–1999
  Paul Murphy 1999–2002
  Peter Hain 2002–2007
Secretary of State for Scotland Donald Dewar 1997–1999
  John Reid 1999–2001
  Helen Liddell 2001–2003
  Alistair Darling 2003–2006
  Douglas Alexander 2006–2007
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Mo Mowlam 1997–1999
  Peter Mandelson 1999–2001
  John Reid 2001–2002
  Paul Murphy 2002–2005
  Peter Hain 2005–2007
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster David G. Clark 1997–1998
  Jack Cunningham 1998–1999
  Mo Mowlam 1999–2001
  Gus Macdonald 2001–2003
  Douglas Alexander 2003–2004
  Alan Milburn 2004–2005
  John Hutton 2005–2006
  Hilary Armstrong 2006–2007
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Alistair Darling 1997–1998
  Stephen Byers 1998
  Alan Milburn 1998–1999
  Andrew Smith 1999–2002
  Paul Boateng 2002–2005
  Des Browne 2005–2006
  Stephen Timms 2006–2007

Cabinets listed chronologically

These are the cabinets under Prime Minister Tony Blair (from May 1997 to June 2007).

Tony Blair's first Cabinet, May 1997 to June 2001

Also attending Cabinet:

Changes

Tony Blair's second Cabinet, June 2001 to May 2005

Also attending Cabinet:

Changes

Tony Blair's third Cabinet, May 2005 to June 2007

Also attending Cabinet:

Changes

Further information: [[:2006 United Kingdom Cabinet reshuffle]]

External links

Preceded by Government of the United Kingdom
1997-2007 		Succeeded by
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