At University Tony Blair became lead singer of Ugly Rumours
Joined Labour Party in 1975
Called to the Bar, Lincoln's Inn, 1976
Married 1980, Cherie Booth
Four children. The youngest, Leo, was the first child born to a serving Prime Minister in over 150 years.
In May 1982 came third when running for Beaconsfield (10% of the vote)
In June 1983 Tony Blair was elected MP for Sedgefield
Assistant Spokesman on Treasury 1984-87
Deputy Spokesman on Trade & Industry 1987
Columnist in The Times 1987-88
Tony Blair was elected to the Shadow Cabinet in October 1988
He was elected to the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party in September 1992
Following the 1992 election Tony Blair became Shadow Home Secretary
Following the death of John Smith, Blair was elected to the leadership of the Labour Party in July 1994
The Labour Party won the 1997 General Election by a landslide,
after 18 years in Opposition. At 43, Tony Blair became the youngest
Prime Minister since Lord Liverpool in 1812.
The Labour Party and Tony Blair were re-elected 2001
With the 2005 general election, Tony Blair led the Labour
Party to its third consecutive victory. The first time Labour had
achieved this.
On 7 September 2006, Tony Blair announced that he would step down from being Prime Minister within a year.
On 10 May 2007, Tony Blair announced that he will stand down as Prime Minister on 27 June.
On 27 June 2007, Tony Blair resigned and Gordon Brown
took over as Prime Minister. On the same day, Blair announced that he
was standing down as an M.P. and would become a Middle East envoy
working on behalf of the US, Russia, the UN and the EU.
Clubs: Trindon Colliery and Deaf Hill Working Men's, Constituency Labour (Trindon); Fishburn Working Men's
Nickname: Poodle
Tony Blair gained his passion for political biography from Isaac Deutscher's Trotsky trilogy
Also of interest: William James Lynton Blair QC, Tony's brother has been a consultant with the World Bank and IMF since 1991.
Cherie Booth's hobbies are listed in Who's Who as "theatre, the
arts, keeping fit, enjoying my children"; Tony Blair, in his entry does
not list his hobbies, but according to Peter Mandelson and Roger
Liddle(The Blair Revolution):"When Blair is not working ...he is busy
playing with his children and keeping up with their school and leisure
activities. Swimming after Church on Sunday mornings is a regular
event. His own leisure time is spent reading (mainly literary classics
and biographies) and watching thrillers, playing tennis and playing his
guitar."
