Blair, Tony BrE AmE
(1953–) a British politician who became leader of the Labour Party in 1994, and who was Prime Minister from 1997 until 2007. After becoming party leader, he made a lot of changes to make the party more modern, and called it ‘New Labour’. Some traditional supporters of the Labour Party thought his policies were too ↑ right-wing , but he won a large victory in the elections of 1997, and this ended 18 years of government by the Conservative Party. He also went on to win the elections of 2001 and 2005, becoming the Labour Party’s longest serving Prime Minister and the first leader of the party to win three elections one after the other. However after the Iraq War, he became less popular with members of his own party and the public. After ↑ resign ing as Prime Mnister in 2007, he became UN Middle East ↑ envoy . His wife, Cherie Blair, is a well-known lawyer.