Tony Blair as Prime Minister

Abstract

Making sense of Tony Blair as prime minister is a tricky task. Political commentator Peter Riddell warned of the danger of making the leap from describing a particularly strong or assertive prime minister to concluding that the office itself had changed permanently. Equally he warned against the opposing view that a change of prime minister will return a style of governing back to an ideal of collective collegial rule (Seldon, 2001, p. 21). Each prime minister brings his or her own style to the position, and institutional change is inevitable. But how much institutional change or stretch is attributable to the individual incumbent and how much of this outlives the tenure of office? And does the Blair premiership fit into trends in prime ministerial leadership evident elsewhere?