BLAIR’S BRITAIN, 1997–2007 by ANTHONY SELDON (edt)

Author:ANTHONY SELDON (edt)
Language: en-us
Format: mobi
Published: 2010-09-02T13:05:18.817000+00:00

PROJECTED

36

96–97

01–02

06–07

Figure 20.3. They spent the money. . . . .

In the heady dawn of 1997, few among the public expected Labour

would follow Conservative spending plans for the first few years, with real

rises in expenditure only starting well into their first term in office.

Secondly, overall judgements about public attitudes to Tony Blair have

to be made in response to a world which, in his own words, fundamentally changed in his second term. When one looks at the issues the British

public say concern them, he was right. Concern about immigration/race

relations increased twelve fold from 3% (June 1997) to 36% (April 2007)

as asylum and migrant numbers rose dramatically at the end of the twentieth century. With 9/11 and the subsequent wars in Afghanistan and

Iraq, followed by Britain’s own home-grown 7th July bombings, concern

about defence/foreign affairs increased from only 2% to 27% of the

public citing it as the key issue facing Britain over the same time period,

with huge spikes in concern at the time of key events.

This combination of security issues in the broadest sense, Blair’s relationship with the US ‘war on terror’ and his personal relationship with

George Bush will colour judgements about his performance – and until

there is a settled view about the outcome of Iraq, it is unlikely there will be

one on Blair either (Figure 20.4).

It is also worth reflecting on those concerns that effectively vanished

under Tony Blair. One of the reasons that Labour achieved a historic third

term, was because the ‘issue’ that had dominated British politics in the

previous two decades – the economy – was vanquished as a concern.

During Blair’s time as Prime Minister, concern about unemployment

dropped from 39% (June 1997) to 8% (April 2007) (Figure 20.5).

  



Q What do you see as the main/other important issues facing Britain today?

80

NHS

70

60

Defence

Race

relations/

50

immigration

40

30

20

Crime/ Law &

Education

10

Order

0

May

May

May

May

May

May

May

May

May

May

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

Figure 20.4. Rise of security

Base: c. 2,000, adults aged 18ϩ per month

%

100

90

80

70

Unemployment

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

n-9

n-9

n-9

n-9

n-9

n-9

n-9

n-9

n-9

n-9

n-0

n-0

n-0

n-0

n-0

n-0

n-0

Ja

Ja

Ja

Ja

Ja

Ja

Ja

Ja

Ja

Ja

Ja

Ja

Ja

Ja

Ja

Ja

Ja

Figure 20.5. Falling concern about unemployment

Source: Ipsos MORI political aggregates. Base: c. 2,000 adults aged 18ϩ per month

It was the relatively successful management of the economy that

allowed public service investment, and created an implicit, if not

acknowledged, feel-good factor. Blair got little credit for the ongoing

removal of the one issue that had kept the British public awake at night in

the early 1990s. At the time of his departure from office, 60% of people

thought Britain was getting worse as a place to live – the comparative

figure under Thatcher in 1988 was only 40%. Nevertheless when one

compared how the British felt about their own personal circumstances in



 

Q: Which three of the following eleven topics do you find the

most worrying in your country? – Unemployment and jobs

Actual

% Most cause for concern

rates

Germany

71%

8.9%

Italy

59%

7.7%

France

54%

9.1%

Spain

45%

8.7%

The US

23%

4.7%

Great Britain

11%

4.9%

G average

37%

Figure 20.6. Most worrying issues nationally – Unemployment and jobs

Ipsos MORI G6 study – 1000 interviews by telephone May 2006

2006, they were markedly more positive than their European neighbours

and other major economies (64% said they were confident about their

own prospects in 2006, compared to only 36% in France and 54% in

Germany) and personal concern about unemployment was dramatically

lower than elsewhere (Figure 20.6).

However, the Blair boom was not equally shared

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.