Tony Blair Biography
Biographical Data
- Name: Anthony Charles Lynton Blair
- Born: 6 May 1953 in Edinburgh
- Son of Leo Charles Lynton Blair and Hazel Blair
- Educated Durham Choristers School, Fettes College, Edinburgh; St John's College, Oxford
- Worst subject at school: Science
- 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: Bambi
- 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."