If Blair had only had two terms, he’d be remembered as one of the heroes of the European Left: a mixture of the huge, Constitutional stuff that left-wing parties tend to do (minimum wage, devolution in Scotland, Wales and London), as well as solid growth in spending in education, the NHS, and bringing the railways back from the brink that Thatcher and Major left them in. That he also had major foreign policy triumphs - Kosovo, Northern Ireland - as well as truly radical stuff like soaking the privatised utility companies for all they were worth, is remarkable.
Now, all governments run out of ideas (exhibit A: Jospin by 2002 after 5 years of cohabitation); and arguably New Labour was too afraid of the Tory press to try to change opinions while the wind was with them: while pro-European, Tony Blair never tried to explain why the EU was a good thing, and too often money was raised via stealth taxes or short-term gimmicks like PFI. Still, had it not been for Iraq, I think people would have a lot more time for Tony Blair, and Gordon Brown would have had a better chance at getting elected.
(Consider also LBJ, who would be in the pantheon of American presidents if not for Vietnam.)
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Now, all governments run out of ideas (exhibit A: Jospin by 2002 after 5 years of cohabitation); and arguably New Labour was too afraid of the Tory press to try to change opinions while the wind was with them: while pro-European, Tony Blair never tried to explain why the EU was a good thing, and too often money was raised via stealth taxes or short-term gimmicks like PFI. Still, had it not been for Iraq, I think people would have a lot more time for Tony Blair, and Gordon Brown would have had a better chance at getting elected.
(Consider also LBJ, who would be in the pantheon of American presidents if not for Vietnam.)