Why was Tony Blair so successful?

[ComingUpTrumps]

Random AIBU - I know. And one that might not be to everyone's taste. Sorry about this.

My AIBU is that I'm really curious to find out what it was that made Tony Blair such a successful Prime Minister (by 'successful', I mean the fact that he won three consecutive elections). I'd like to find out what you all think.

When he first became PM, I was five, so had no idea about what politics or government was or anything like that. I started getting interested around 2003, when the Iraq War started - I still remember watching the news when they showed Saddam Hussein's statue being toppled.

I fully understand that TB is a controversial figure, and I'm still making my mind about him, to be honest. I borrowed his autobiography from the library a couple of week ago. The one thing I can say is that I think he's a very good writer, but apart from that, I'm still trying to find out about him.

In a sense, I feel that TB's a bit like Donald Trump, in that he tends to divide opinion and is quite controversial as people seem to love him or hate him.

Also, a bit like with Trump (although I think that TB is smarter than Trump), I still can't quite work out what TB's agenda was and is (Power-hungry? Genuinely believed/believes that he could make a difference to Britain and the world? Wanted to see how far he could get in politics after becoming an MP? A mixture of all three?)

The country needed a change I voted labour in 1997 unfortunately it all went tits up he was a lying psychopath imo very charismatic but then so was Hitler by all accounts...

It was such a wave of positivity and euphoria when he was elected. The best of times. And then Iraq.

Exactly Buster Iraq and weapons of mass destruction

Personally for me, whose youth was largely taken up by the Thatcher years, I was really sick of the cynicism and greed that seemed to be the hallmark of politics at the time. I was sick of the dogma of selling off all our public services to private investors, which were arguably not better value for money - just look at what we pay for train services compared to other countries in Europe.

Blair certainly seemed to offer a breath of fresh air in that regard, and he wasn't identified with the hard left, which made him more palatable to the middle classes. Hope and optimism are very difficult to give up on. As is often the case, he probably stayed on for one term too many. What he was very good at was appealing to such a broad group of the electorate; he and his cabinet certainly seemed more relatable in general than Norman Tebbit, Thatcher, Leon Brittan and Douglas Hurd.

He was up against the Tory party at its lowest point ever. IDS as leader FFS!

TB was nothing like trump.

He united rather than divided opinion. Thats why he was so successful.

He also wasnt, crucially, a twat.

He did a lot for this country and i blame GB for ousting him unnecessarily when he could have done more good.

I say bring back TB. The man speaks sense.
😁

Then again i also have respect for Nick Clegg. Make of this what you will....

I quite like Gorden Brown Zen I think it's unfortunate he didn't have TB,s charisma

He was a bright young thing at a time when the country desperately needed one.

He is a very clever man. He worked out how to use the media to his advantage

He seemed more normal and in touch than many other politicians (I know that's not a high bar)

He was unexpectedly handsome in RL

I was 18 in 1997. It's hard to imagine now but there really was a buzz of hope and optimism in the air. As others have said Tory sleaze and hypocrisy (cash for questions, back to basics, affairs in press) vs young and dare I say it 'cool' new Labour leader. The Diana moment looks hackneyed now but to a lot of people it was the right note at the right time.

Another factor was that he had the endorsement of the Murdoch press. A sign of just how bad things were for the Tories. I can't see Labour getting that anytime soon.

The Iraq War - I think he had a genuine belief he was doing the right thing and this blinded him to the reality of the situation. Military intervention in Sierra Leone had widely been considered a success. They were achieving success with peace in Ireland. I think he saw himself as this important world player. I think he was strangely rather over enamoured with Bush. This is not to say he doesn't have culpability for the absolute fucking mess they created. They were certainly warned.

With regards to the later election wins. I think a lot of people just don't really care about deaths abroad in foreign countries. The economy seemed to be booming - people had money in their pockets, house prices were soaring, mortgages were easy to get. It obviously came crashing down eventually but TB was gone by then.

He was probably the best prime minister we ever had.

He provided a breath of fresh air and much needed investment.

Despite what the die-hard tories and supporters will tell you, he did NOT plunge the country in to debt or cause the recession (don't forget TB/Labour was in 11years before the financial crash of 2008) and the tories have incurred more debt than any other governement.

He was a war criminal at worst and a shockingly poor military strategist at best. All to be a bed fellow with the Americans. Iraq did more to destabilise the Middle East than the wars with Afghanistan, Syria and Libya.
His actions also made it impossible to act militarily in future conflicts, as he eroded any (legitimate) UK appetite for war. E.g.- Assad using chemical weapons on his own people- U.K. Plc says 'do nothing'. We all watched Rwanda and said we'd never let it happen again... so no I don't know why he is popular/'successful'.

Nationwide there seemed to be optimism.

On the other hand, and this is not hindsight, I can't think of single leftie I knew, and that was loads, who thought that he'd be any real good. He was just not a Tory. Teachers in particular were under no illusions that that things would get any better in education.

He rode the financial bubble. Something terrible was brewing,

I went to a couple of rallies when he was on the stump for election in '97. In person he was (is?) immensely charismatic and magnetic. In those far-off days we were less cynical about what was behind the public figure. He was at the head of a movement that seemed so progressive and cool, and right for the moment. I remember walking to work the day after the election with a spring in my step, smiling at everybody I saw in the street, because things were going to be fantastic in Cool Britannia.

And for a few years they were.

Then Iraq happened. In 2003, I was back in the same street as I'd walked down so happily in '97, marching to protest the UK being strong armed into a war on false pretenses. I've never felt the same about politics or politicians since, because the sense of betrayal was so huge.

the UK being strong armed into a war on false pretenses

Well that is one way of putting it.

I was in my forties in 97, and I voted for him then. It felt right, his policies appealed to me, and he was charismatic, certainly in comparison to most politicians of the day. I've always been politically in the centre, believing in a hand up rather than a handout, personal responsibility wherever possible, but support for those who need it. That's what he seemed to promise, unlike my recollections of earlier labour governments where the unions had far too much power, to the detriment of so many of the rest of us.

I was a housing worker, and like many colleagues hoped that a Labour government would withdraw the Right to Buy, but they didn't. I didn't vote for him a second time.

Well that is one way of putting it

The OP was asking what people thought of Tony Blair at the time he was in power, and that is what I, and many other people, thought at the time, despite being assured that we were completely wrong (we were not wrong). Not sure what your point is?

I never liked Blair. I was about 25 when he was elected, I didnt vote Labour though I had previously. He actually turned me off Labour. I though he was fake and insincere.

I can see why people did like him though, he was youngish, confident, charismatic, and the Tories had been in power a long time and were a spent force.
I remember it being a very optimistic time, though I think the disappointment set in way before Iraq. I remember friends and colleagues being disappointed with him quite quickly, though not enough to make them change their votes.

Some people just don't remember it... the country was crazy in love with TB, he was insanely popular. Things like "education, education, education" were bold at the time. He was positive, with the "third way" people thought they'd found some new amazing way of doing politics that would really solve the world's problems.

The economy was booming, great jobs and opportunities being created, public services expanding, people were making silly money on property. Great it you caught it at the right time - not great, it was amazing. GB could do no wrong, God was he smug!

Like pp I think he lost his way with GW Bush. He thought he was doing the right thing wih Iraq - it wasn't all his fault and it is only one aspect of the man. TB hating is now a national sport, especially popular on MN.

But compare the calibre of politicians there and now and weep. When I saw Alistair Campbell on TV somewhere a few months ago he was head and shoulders above the rest. The political discourse at the time assumed that voters had some intelligence. Now we have politicians who clearly despise and don't give a shit about voters, are intellectually limited and laughably deluded about their capabilities, they embarass the UK abroad and are ready to sell their kids for a bit of power or the country and the NHS for "the good of the party".

TB united society, there was true hope, confidence and positivity then. Now we have a country that is bitterly, deeply divided along a handful of very worrying lines, an economy which is the sick man of Europe again, and no way to sort this mess out. Brexit crystallised a way out for the majority of the electorate. Personally I think it will make things way worse but boy do I hope I'm wrong. So yeah I look back to those times in fondness!

He rode the financial bubble.

He helped create the financial bubble. The Government used to set the interest rate but he made it a decision of the Bank of England. Interest rates plummeted so you could buy more house for your monthly payment; people chasing houses pushed the price up to the current ridiculous levels.
New Labour created the world where house prices being ten times average salary is considered normal.

Tony Blair got into power because of rock star good looks and because he was Not A Tory. Same way that Nick Clegg did so well: a personable, handsome young hopeful who was Neither Tory Nor Labour. Blair was the hope for the future, unbesmirched by a past. His nickname was Bambi for goodness sake!
Once he was in power, the spin machine and Gordon Brown's smoke & mirror tricks kept him there.

Today 00:15 gillybeanz

He allowed tax credits at their highest, investment in all education including tertiary and higher education, very low fees, childcare improvements and cc element of tc.
Everyone got cb.
The lower and middle earners were loads better off.

Sort of true Sadly tho it left the country massively in debt, a lot of the investment was wasted and we still haven't recovered

I always thought the reason TB did so well was basically Alistair Campbell!

The political discourse at the time assumed that voters had some intelligence.

See, this is the sort of thing that TB excelled at. Telling the voters stuff to flatter them and then doing all sorts of machinations while they weren't looking.
Budgets were a classic case of this. They would do headline stuff that pleased the public and not mention other stuff that came out in boring briefing papers. Gordon Brown was a past master at droning on about numbers so much that people stopped listening - remember 'post-neo-classical endogenous growth theory'. Then he could do things like stopping pension schemes reclaiming tax on dividend income (stay awake at the back!). That little gem means that pension funds are currently losing out on £10b a year.

Tony Blair was successful because he bribed the electorate with their own money. He gave them titbits like Tax Credits whilst simultaneously raiding their pensions. All the bad stuff was due to happen years down the line, after he was out of power. He mortgaged your future.
He learned from the classics: he knew the power of bread and circuses.

I was 17 in 1997 so a few months short of being allowed to vote.
He captured the optimism and appetite for change in the country perfectly. Magnificent marketing, a breath of fresh air , people genuinely believed "things can only get better"
I remember walking into my summer job on the Friday and everybody apart from a couple of management were excited about the result, the arrival of the minimum wage.
My dad's vote "counted" for yhe first time in his life and he was 45 and had tears in his eyes to get rid of 18 years of Tories.
Where did it all go wrong? I don't know. Did he believe his own hype and think he was invincible or did he genuinely think he was doing the right thing? Tbh I was too busy getting pissed and going on holiday to follow politics that closely.
My gut feel is that history will judge him more harshly than he deserves but David Kelly's family would quite rightly disagree of course.
I just hope that my children manage to have a period in their life where their country is so buoyant. It was a great time to live through.

The majority of the voting population people felt financially better off under Blair - tax credits, decent benefits, public service pay, house price inflation. And in the end that is what votes depend on. He benefitted from the results of a global economic upturn, deregulation etc.

He also united centre left and centre right in the post Thatcher era. The majority of voters fear extremes.

Iraq was a failure. But 20/20 hindsight is a wonderful thing - and I think he genuinely believed he was doing the right thing at the time.