Tony Blair - Famous Scots From Virtual Scotland
Anthony Charles Lynton (Tony) Blair
Tony Blair (as he is most widely known) was born Anthony Charles Lynton Blair in Edinburgh, Scotland on the 6th of May 1953, to Leo and Hazel Blair. Leo was a hard working and ambitious man who studied law at the University of Edinburgh while he worked as a junior tax inspector. As soon as he gained his degree the family moved to Australia where they remained for a few years during the 1950s while he taught law in the University of Adelaide. They returned to Britain towards the end of the decade and settled in Durham while Leo taught law in Durham University. While in Durham Tony Blair studied at Chorister School and then progressed to the independant, and exclusive, Fettes College in Edinburgh, following this he moved to London. For the first year in the capital Blair enjoyed playing his guitar and generally had a good time but eventually settled to read at St John's College (Oxford University). It was here that his interest in music flourished and the seeds of political thought first sprouted.
Tony Blair passed his BA in with Second Class Honours Jurisprudence and began to study for the bar. As a pupil barrister he first met Cherie Booth, who was to later become his wife, at 11 King's Bench Walk Chambers. It was at this time, in 1975, that Tony Blair became a member of the Labour Party. Specialising in trade union and industrial law Blairs political stance was further to the left in his early days and far from the more central stance he was later to settle upon.
It was maybe after a few failures to become an elected member of Parliament that Tony Blair's politics began to move closer to the central ground but it took him eight years to finally become and MP for the constituency of Sedgefield (1983) which was not too far from his old childhood stomping grounds of Durham. Blair showed great political skill in taking advantage of the connections he made and rewarding those who supported him and this may account for his rather more rapid rise in the ranks over the next few years of his political career.
In 1984 Blair became the Opposition Spokeman on Treasury and Economic Affairs but remained at the post for only a few years and by 1987 he was working in the Department of Trade and Industry. Having stayed there for a year Blair then moved on to the Department of Energy for a year, the Department of Employment for another three. In 1992 he was given the prestigous role of Opposition Home Affairs Spokesman and a major figure in the Labour Party under the leadership of the charismatic John Smith.
The future of the Labour Party was looking particularly bright, it had a leader who had earned great respect within the party and was beginning to master the skills required during Prime Minister's Questions and the likes while also growing in popularity with the general public. At the same time the Conservative government of the day seemed to be moving from one disaster to another and hopes of winning the next general election were stronger than ever and were now becoming extremely vocal within the labour party from grass roots level to the very top. In 1994 the Labour Party was hit by a thunderbolt when, on the 12 May, John Smith died of a sudden and massive heart attack. The left of the party had lost an important leader who had refused to alter the infamous Clause IV and who is often described as being "best Prime Minister we never had".
Following the death of John Smith, as deputy leader, Margaret Beckett became the new Labour leader a post she held for just over two months because the annual leadership elections were brought forward to the July. On the 21 July 1994 Tony Blair was declared the next leader of the Labour party having beaten John Prescott and Margaret Beckett who took up the roles of deputy leader and Shadow Health Secretary (the post previously held by Tony Blair) respectively. Tony Blair now set about changing the Labour Party to such a degree that he called it simply "New Labour".
While many still argue that the changing of Clause IV, which changed the aims and values, effectively created a new party altogether, many debate if Labour would have been electable without such radical steps. It is generally accepted that, if John Smith had not died, and the party would have remained as it was then Labour may well have won the election in 1997 but not with the landslide victory and subsequently massive and shocking majority with which Tony Blair won it with New Labour.
So, after a most eventful evening with only a small handfull of Conservatives opposing him, Anthony Charles Lynton Blair became the Prime Minister of Great Britain and the country looked forward to truly massive changes to the better. However what followed is still debated today and the full consequences of Tony Blairs premiership may well not be known for a great many years to come.
Putting the whole 3 terms into just a few sentences (I may return to edit this at some time) Tony Blair set about a series of drastic changes in the laws of the land. Scotland gained a small amount of independence in the form of a devolved parliament with a few minor powers and Wales was given a Welsh assembly - a universe away from full independence but maybe a small step forward. Personally I feel that it was a desperate attempt to halt the massive nationalist movements which were gaining a frightening momentum but it seems to have worked, much to my own disappointment.
I am equally cynical about the peace process in Northern Ireland. Yes truly awesome steps forward towards peace were made but for me far too many of the underlying disagreements were simply put to one side to fester in the minds and hearts of the many hardliners on both sides of the argument. I truly do hope that the peace in Northern Ireland is sustained but my heart drives me to conclude that there will always be an underlying anger that will be almost impossible to calm.
Maybe my judgement is so heavily clouded by the war in Iraq that I simply can not view Blair's time objectively and it is why I shall leave the rest of this article until a much later date.
All I would like to say on the topic is that the sick manipulation of the working man is something that I generally associate with historic tyrannical leaders such as Hitler, that small percentage of people who own the largest percentage of the world's wealth and the Conservative Party and certainly NOT the Labour Party of Great Britain.
My final words are simple. Kier Hardy was a man who worked as a child in the coal mines of Scotland he worked for many hours a day and yet studied hard. He strived to bring the miners together to fight the injustice that still existed in that industry (not long before then the Scottish miners where slaves, the literal property of the mine owners). He was blacklisted for his efforts but eventually helped create the Labour Party for the service of that working man. Hardy was a devout person strong in his beliefs but few people realise that the last few years of his life were spent trying to get the workers of the world to stand together to refuse to fight each other. Only a very short time after the outbreak of World War One Kier Hardy died, many of the time saying he died heartbroken by his failure to halt the bloodshed.
Compare this with the so called "NEW" Labour Party of 2003...
Finally, take a very close look at the famous photo at the very top of this page and take note how submissive Mr Tony Blair is. Notice how much "real estate" is domineered by the right hand of Bush and look at how closely Tony Blair keeps his hand to his body and then tell me all about this so called "special relationship" that the English media love to mention at the slightest opportunity.
And He will reward everyone according to his deeds." Proverbs 24:11-12
or, in the NIV
11 Rescue those being led away to death;
hold back those staggering toward slaughter.
12 If you say, "But we knew nothing about this,"
does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who guards your life know it?
Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?
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