http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/keyword/tony-blair Inquiries Journal provides undergraduate and graduate students around the world a platform for the wide dissemination of academic work over a range of core disciplines. en-us Thu, 21 May 2026 12:04:42 -0400 Thu, 21 May 2026 12:04:42 -0400 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1096/essential-modernisation-or-excessive-meddling-labour-wakeham-and-the-lords-reforms By S.L. Garlick - Tony Blair has long been committed to the abolition of hereditary peers; the 1997 Labour Party Manifesto promised that this would happen. Labour knew that reform would be difficult and would upset many people of influence, so they took their time and waited for the right moment. When that painful moment came, the abolition of hereditary peers was revolution by stealth.There was no fanfare, and no death knell after the debate was over. Even though Blair, Baroness Jay (Leader of the House of Lords) and the like might feel this to be the right moment, the latest piece of New Labour “modernisation... Sat, 01 Jan 2000 12:00 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1096/essential-modernisation-or-excessive-meddling-labour-wakeham-and-the-lords-reforms http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1099/john-major-the-man-and-the-myth By Jeremy Blackburn - John Major was born in Merton, Surrey on March 29, 1943. He was the son of a trapeze artist/self-employed businessman making garden gnomes; he was educated at Cheam Primary and Rutlish Grammar School, leaving at 15. In fact, Major was one of the most upwardly mobile politicians in British history, rising from the dole to Downing Street. He worked as an insurance clerk, trainee accountant, general labourer, overseas banker, and eventually as a branch manager for the Standard Chartered Bank. He became Member of Parliament for Huntingdon in 1979 on the bow wave of the storm that was Margaret... Sat, 01 Jan 2000 12:00 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1099/john-major-the-man-and-the-myth http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1151/why-being-third-isnt-good-enough-a-critique-of-the-third-way By Peter Hand - For a government so keen on ‘sound-bite’ over substance, gimmicks over values and image over principle, the early indications were, that this was a government void of any real beliefs. Apart from a desire to win – a means in itself – it has been very difficult to pinpoint what exactly is this government’s philosophy. This indeed has been the case from the ‘peoples’ Prime Minster’, to the people themselves. For example, we started off with ‘Cool Britannia’, designed to represent the ‘new’ spirit of this Labour government... Fri, 01 Jan 1999 12:00 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1151/why-being-third-isnt-good-enough-a-critique-of-the-third-way http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1123/tony-blair-thatchers-clone-or-original-thinker By Lee Taylor - The political reasons for this were clear. The overall public mood was in favour of state control of key industries. It was seen as the way forward. Many people had bad experiences of the lassez-faire economic policy that had led to the great depression and the large-scale unemployment that had followed. By having a workforce in the government sector it was hoped that such problems could be avoided. These policies were strengthened by the events of the war, where the government had exercised massive control over the economy. As the Labour party was fond of saying-“these policies... Fri, 01 Jan 1999 12:00 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1123/tony-blair-thatchers-clone-or-original-thinker http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1124/three-men-and-a-loan-the-fall-of-peter-mandelson By Chetan D. Sabnis - The Christmas of 1998 will be seen by political pundits in years to come as the first crisis to assail the ‘New Labour’ government of Tony Blair. I myself, remember sitting at home, having just returned from a short walk with the dog, to find that Geoffrey Robinson had resigned. The following day a similar series of domestic events proceeded the fall of Peter Mandelson. Within days Charlie Whelan had cleared his desk too. Sadly, my golden retriever failed to understand why I was riveted to the television and radio for the rest of the week. This was the greatest of presents... Fri, 01 Jan 1999 12:00 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1124/three-men-and-a-loan-the-fall-of-peter-mandelson http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1125/in-defence-of-the-third-way-a-response-to-peter-hand By Paul Williams And Rob Dixon - In Issue 53 of Interstate, Peter Hand argued that the ‘Third Way’ was nothing but a well packaged combination of rhetoric and soundbites on the part of a government wholly obsessed by presentation.[1] Given the constraints of space we will limit ourselves to primarily responding to Hand’s agenda by contesting four of the central themes of his “argument”. However, it is sometimes difficult to flesh out the assumptions and lines of argument Hand was making because of his own indulgence in ‘soundbite over substance’. The four themes we wish to contest... Fri, 01 Jan 1999 12:00 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1125/in-defence-of-the-third-way-a-response-to-peter-hand