by Marcus Bentley Wise

Created on: February 08, 2010   Last Updated: February 15, 2010

Tony Blair came to power still in the shadow of a politician who had dominated politics for eighteen years in and out of office. Unlike Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair I do not feel, at the moment, will be held by many after him as a person that they want to be associated with. But having said that, he did not change the country as such, only changed the party that he was a member and that will be more of a legacy over all.

Margaret Thatcher took on the unions, privatised nationalised industries, freed up markets and made us a nation of home owners by selling of council houses. She was not scared to use force sending the S.A.S into the Iranian embassy, went to war over the Falkland's and took a hard line on the I.R.A.

She allied herself strongly with the American government of Ronald Reagan, and could be said to have been part of the eventual opening up of the then Soviet Union.  She ruled her party with a rod of iron and seemed to do so even after she was voted out. National and internationally she changed the way people thought of Briton.

Tony Blair on the other hand came from nowhere or so it seemed. In the party he was known as a radical and an up and coming player. In fact you could say that it was more a hand of fate that made Tony Blair Prime Minister rather than Tony Blair.

But that is not fair, he did take what was perceived to be an unelectable party and lead it as Prime Minister for over ten years. Before Tony Blair you could have seen the labour party winning but not holding on to power for that long. The labour party that was then would not last. And it all came down to just one thing Clause IV.

This Clause adopted by the party, in a world that had been very different from the one that is was going to govern, was outdated. But in it, it stated that the fundamental belief of the labour party was the nationalization of industry. A fundamental Socialist ideal that a core in the Labour party still held dear to there hearts.

Between 1994 and 1995, Tony Blair persuaded the party to give up on this goal. And with that showed that he did have the possibility to govern, in a way that we had not seen a labour government govern ever before. New Labour was born and the shift of politics in the United Kingdom moved from the left and right to the centre right.

It is claimed that he brought peace to Northern Ireland but the truth is that was already underway with the work of the government before. Unlike the government of John Major, he had the largest majority and was not held to ransom by Unionist parties in Westminster.

Under new labour, devolved parliaments came to Scotland and to Wales. But did this really change the country in the dramatic fashion that is has so claimed? It is hard to say. For Scotland and Wales a revived sense of nation pride. But in the long run will the end the state of the Union.

Internationally Tony Blair did commit troops to more conflicts all over the world. At first in the Balkans and then in the war on terror. But at the time would not have any Prime Minister of Briton have done the same. It would have been hard not to have committed to some action. But still the argument over weapons of mass destruction still divided the nation.

Tony Blair record is hard to dispute as a matter of fact. One of the youngest Prime Ministers, longest serving on consecutive general elections, a great communicator and committed to his beliefs and convictions in politics over all. Time will be the real judge over what if any legacy has or will be left from Tony Blair. At the moment it is still to soon to tell.

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