Heroes or Villains?: The Blair Government Reconsidered

by Jon Davis, John Rentoul

Tony Blair was the political colossus in Britain for thirteen years, winning three elections in a row for New Labour, two of them by huge majorities. However, since leaving office he has been disowned by many in his own party, with the term 'Blairite' becoming an insult.

The election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour Party leader in 2015 seemed to be, if not an equal, at least an opposite reaction to Blair's long dominance of the centre and left of British politics. Drawing on new contributions from most of the main players in the Blair government, including Tony Blair
himself, Jon Davis and John Rentoul reconsider the history and common view of New Labour against its record of delivering moderate social democracy. They show how New Labour was not one party but two, and how it essentially governed as a coalition, much like the government that followed it.

This book tells the inside story of how Tony Blair worked out, late in the day, his ideas for improving the NHS and school reform; how he groped towards, and was eventually defined by, a foreign policy of liberal interventionism; how he managed a difficult relationship with his Chancellor for ten
years; and how Gordon Brown finally took over just as the boom went bust and the New Labour era came to an end. Rentoul and Davis reveal how the governing tribes dealt with each other in the New Labour years: not simply the 'Blairites' and the 'Brownites', but the 'temporary' ministers and the
'permanent', under-reported civil servants who worked alongside them.

Many of the arguments that raged within and around the Blair government of 1997-2007 remain very much alive: reform of public services; the right course for the divided Labour Party; and the Iraq war. The Blair Government Reconsidered aims at a balanced account of how decisions were made, to allow
the reader to make up their own mind about controversies that still dominate politics today.

Genres: Politics

384 pages, Paperback

Published July 20, 2021

About the author

Jon Davis is the author of five chapbooks and six books of poetry; he has received numerous awards, including a Lannan Literary Award, two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, and the Lavan Younger Poets Award from the Academy of American Poets. He earned his MFA from the University of Montana, and founded and directed the low-residency MFA in creative writing at the Institute of American Indian Arts. In 2012, he was selected as Poet Laureate of Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Reviews

[J Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Good Read

This is a good read, well written. Like him or loathe him, Blair was PM for 10 years and the country prospered before the crash of '08. What I particularly liked was the extended quotes from those who are there and a compelling case to think twice about how we judge and feel about New Labour. They made mistakes but Blair is not the villain portrayed and we enjoyed a period of growth and improved international standing, a peace in Northern Ireland and Kosovo. As is stated, the major fault in the Iraq invasion was in not planning or preparing sufficiently for the hideous mess it unleashed. Saddam Hussein needed to go but they made an almighty hash of it. But, it was Not a Brit operation, it was a US led coalition. Blair believed in the WMD, he believed we had to act and many in this country backed him on that.

[MR David J Millett · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting insight

Drawing extensively from actors in the Blair administration the book seems to examine popular perceptions of this Government against available evidence. The net result is a more sympathetic critique than many.

[John Knowles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too uncritical.

[Pablo Argote · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read, but a bit repetitive. It provided too many details. I recommend a BBC documentary about New Labour, which is much better and concise.

[Corlett · Rating 1 out of 5]

Propaganda for a war criminal.