X-Nico

69 unusual facts about Tony Blair


2002 Ryder Cup

The victory prompted Tony Blair, then British Prime Minister to joke in his speech at the following week's Labour Party conference: "What about the Ryder Cup, eh? Britain in Europe at its best. Me and George Bush on opposite sides".

2005 Sharm el-Sheikh attacks

The then UK prime minister, Tony Blair, holidays in Sharm el-Sheikh and it is reported to be his favourite holiday destination.

ABS Hovercraft

In 1998 Tony Blair announced on TV the Millennium Product award of the UK Design Council for the ABS M10 Hovercraft.

Alex Okosi

Interviewees have included former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Sir Richard Branson of Virgin Group, and Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.

Anthony Blair

Tony Blair, Anthony Charles Lynton Blair, British Prime Minister 1997–2007

Azarias Ruberwa

The list also included other notable politicians such as former British PM Tony Blair and U.S. President Barack Obama.

Booth family

Cherie Blair, daughter of Tony Booth and the wife of Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Butskellism

A similar term Blatcherism was coined to describe the supposed convergence of policies of the administrations of Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair.

Clive Betts

Betts was made an opposition whip under Tony Blair in 1996, and after the 1997 general election, he entered the government as an Assistant Whip.

Courtney Coventry

She was flown to UK by the Metropolitan Police at British taxpayers' expense on the day before Tony Blair was to resign from office, 26 June 2007 where she was met at London's Heathrow Airport by plainclothes police escorts.

Covert listening device

In 2003, Alastair Campbell (who was Director of Communications and Strategy from 1997-2003 for the UK PM) in his memoirs The Blair Years: The Alastair Campbell Diaries alleged that two bugs were discovered in the hotel room meant for visiting British PM Tony Blair planted by Indian intelligence agencies.

Dawn Fratangelo

She reported from New York City and Europe, including in-depth reports from London on Prime Minister Tony Blair's critical decision to support the U.S. on Iraq.

Death and funeral of Ariel Sharon

Foreign dignitaries who attended the official service included U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, former Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Czech Prime Minister Jiří Rusnok and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, among others.

Dennis Tirpak

He was the Chairman of The International Scientific Steering Committee for Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change Symposium on Stabilisation of Greenhouse Gas Concentrations which took place at the invitation of the British Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2005.

Derek Foster, Baron Foster of Bishop Auckland

After Tony Blair became leader in 1994, he was keen to appoint a new Chief Whip and asked Foster to stand aside, in return for the promise of a seat in the Cabinet if and when Labour returned to power.

Diary of a Bad Year

The essays, which take up the larger part of each page, are on wide-ranging topics, including the politics of George W. Bush, Tony Blair, Guantanamo Bay, and terrorism.

Directive on services in the internal market

In Tony Blair's speech to the European Parliament on 23 June, he committed the UK Presidency to try to "resolve some of the hard dossiers", of which the Services Directive was one.

Errol Black

He was considered to be on the left-wing of the NDP, and opposed the party's drift toward the "Third Way" socialism favoured by Tony Blair.

Freedom of Information Act 2000

By contrast, former prime minister Tony Blair responsible for passing the Act as "One of the biggest mistakes of his career".

Harry Borden

His subjects have included celebrities ranging from Robin Williams and Ewan McGregor though Jamie Oliver to Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher.

Hilary Armstrong

The daughter of Labour MP Ernest Armstrong, she was shortlisted for the vacant Sedgefield constituency in 1983, only to lose out to Tony Blair.

History of Fianna Fáil

The election of Tony Blair in Britain gave renewed hope of an agreement for peace in Northern Ireland, an issue that has traditionally always been an aspiration of Irish Governments.

Iain Torrance

Torrance made representation to the British Prime Minister Tony Blair on behalf of Megrahi pointing out the deep unease in Scotland and elsewhere over the safety of the verdict.

Is It Fair?

In October 2004, the petition was handed in to the then Prime Minister Tony Blair at 10 Downing Street.

Itchen College

Itchen Sixth Form College was widely publicised during the 2001 General Election after a visit by Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Jaap Marais

Marais also demanded an apology from then UK prime minister Tony Blair for Britain's conduct during the Anglo Boer War of 1899-1902, when it had instituted concentration camps in which 27,000 Boer civilians perished (24,000 children and 3,000 women).

Jim Dickson

Politically he is identified with the right wing of the Labour Party and was leading Lambeth's Labour Group when it was described as "more New Labour than New Labour" by then Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

Karen Hicks

Hicks has worked as Deputy National Field Director for the Democratic National Committee, including John Kerry's presidential campaign in 2004, and for Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Labour Party of Britain (2005).

Kat Fletcher

Although a long standing member of the Labour paty, she ran on a leftist platform as a member of the Campaign for Free Education (CFE) criticising the NUS proximity to Tony Blair's Labour government, particularly on the issue of tuition fees.

Kevin Barron

Barron was returned to the front bench nine months later as a spokesman on Employment by the new leader John Smith, and after Smith's death Tony Blair moved Barron to speak on Health matters.

Libyan Investment Authority

On May 29, 2007, during a visit to Muammar Gaddafi by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, British Petroleum (BP) signed a $900 million exploration and production agreement with the Libyan National Oil Company.

Ludmila's Broken English

The twins are named Blair Albert Heath and Gordon-Marie "Bunny" Heath - something many commentators have taken as a reference to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

Michael Clapham

His voting record shows him to be against many of Tony Blair's policies, including ID cards, student top-up fees and the Iraq war.

Murder of Yvonne Gilford

While Parry had been saved from the death penalty, there were still many questions about the overall fairness of the trial, and in March 1998, Tony Blair personally appealed to King Fahd during a state visit to resolve the situation.

N. Chandrababu Naidu

Both Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of England and Bill Clinton, former President of the USA visited Hyderabad during his tenure as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.

National College for School Leadership

Established in 2000 as the National College for School Leadership, its physical centre – a learning and conference centre (LCC) situated in a striking building designed by Sir Michael Hopkins on the Jubilee Campus of the University of Nottingham – was opened on 24 October 2002 by Tony Blair.

New Labour, New Danger

The main poster used in the campaign involved a picture of Labour Party leader Tony Blair on a black background with a strip of the poster appearing to be torn off across the eyes of Blair.

No. 10 Squadron RAF

However, former Prime Minister Tony Blair reverted to the VC10 for more sensitive flights, notably during his diplomacy to Pakistan and the Middle East after the 11 September 2001 attacks.

O'Connor–Keogh official secrets trial

The charges against the pair relate to the alleged leak of a document containing what purports to be a discussion between Tony Blair and George W. Bush at one point.

One more heave

The electoral success of such an approach was never tested as Smith died of a heart attack in 1994 and Tony Blair won the subsequent leadership election.

Ontario New Democratic Party

As the recession worsened, the NDP implemented what it called the Social Contract — which represented a shift to fiscal conservatism that anticipated that of the Labour Party in the United Kingdom under the leadership of Tony Blair.

Pavle Kalinić

He wrote introductions for several books translated into Croatian, such as The Third Way by Tony Blair, Clash of Fundamentalisms by Tariq Ali, Disarming Iraq by Hans Blix, The Fateful Triangle by Noam Chomsky.

Peter Stoffer

Stoffer is a populist and has been an advocate of Third Way policies championed by Tony Blair.

Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000

In December 2006 Prime Minister Tony Blair and politicians of other parties were questioned by police as part of their investigation into the Cash for Honours affair.

Postwar Britain

Tony Blair was leader of the Labour Party from 1994, and three times Prime Minister (1997–2007).

Radiofrequency ablation

In 2004, former British prime minister Tony Blair underwent RF catheter ablation for recurrent atrial flutter.

Ron Christie

Christie was selected by Bush to lead an American delegation to an international conference on volunteerism and civic engagement hosted by Prime Minister Tony Blair in London.

Rover 800 Series

Tony Blair owned an early 800 in the 1980s, and the vice-chancellor of Middlesex University had two — one for personal use and one for official duties.

Saddam Hussein's alleged shredder

The Suns political editor Trevor Kavanagh wrote in February 2004 that "Public opinion swung behind Tony Blair as voters learned how Saddam fed dissidents feet first into industrial shredders."

Saima Mohsin

Mohsin has interviewed world famous celebrities and leaders from Tom Cruise to Tony Blair, Amitabh Bachchan to Benazir Bhutto.

Saskatchewan New Democratic Party

Romanow later quipped that he was a supporter of Tony Blair's Third Way concept before it even existed, and there were many who doubted the party's continued commitment to social democracy.

Sir Michael Barber

During Blair’s second term, from 2001 to 2005, Barber served as the Chief Adviser on Delivery, reporting directly to Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Socialist Students

Socialist Students was established in the late 1990s by members of the Socialist Party (SP) who had built support for the Save Free Education Campaign amongst students in the battle over the introduction of fees when the Labour Party under Tony Blair was elected in 1997.

SpeakOut

In 2006, SpeakOut administrator Chris Johnson was recognised by British Prime Minister Tony Blair for exceptional work in the voluntary sector.

Sule Lamido

After a September 2001 meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in London, Lamido told the BBC that Britain was passionate over the numerous problems retarding Africa's its peace, progress and prosperity, described the meeting as "fantastic".

TeaMp0isoN

The group published in Pastebin what appeared to be the address book and other private data of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in June 2011.

The Co-operative brand

The Co-operative Movement called on the Prime Minister to establish a Co-operative Commission to consider ways to ensure the survival of the co-operative business model into the 21st century.

The Curious Incident of the WMD in Iraq

It is a fictional autobiography of then British Prime Minister Tony Blair, parodying the style of Mark Haddon's novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

The Prisoner or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair

Although innocent, he was accused by American military officials of plotting to assassinate then British prime minister Tony Blair along with his two brothers.

The Swaminarayan School

Since its creation, it has been visited by many famous people, including Tony Blair, General Sir Richard Dannatt GCB, The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall.

Tottenham by-election, 2000

Both Sharon and Bernie Grant had been on the left-wing of the party whereas the leading black contender for the nomination, David Lammy, was a supporter of Tony Blair.

Trade unions in the United Kingdom

Margaret Thatcher's governments weakened the powers of the unions in the 1980s, in particular by making it more difficult to strike legally, and some within the British trades union movement criticised Tony Blair's Labour government for not reversing some of Thatcher's changes.

Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe

On 20 April 2004 then British prime minister Tony Blair unexpectedly promised a referendum, a proposal which he had previously rejected.

United Kingdom agency worker law

In 1997, when Tony Blair led New Labour to election victory, the approach to employment policy he brought was one of upholding labour market flexibility.

The Directive was the culmination of initial resistance by the Government under Tony Blair, and a final surge of Parliamentary support for a Temporary and Agency Workers (Equal Treatment) Bill.

World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists

Tony Blair used the second congress to explain the Quartet on the Middle East's plans for the resolution of the Israel–Palestine conflict.

Zimbabwean cricket crisis

The matter came to prominence before the 2003 World Cup, when both the British prime minister Tony Blair and the Australian prime minister John Howard said they would prefer it if their teams did not travel to Zimbabwe, but did not ban them from doing so.

Zimbabwean parliamentary election, 2005

Zanu-PF is using claimed interference of Tony Blair, the British prime minister, and United States president George W. Bush in Zimbabwean politics, as an election issue.

Zoran Đinđić

His meetings with Western leaders George W. Bush, Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac and others strongly indicated that the West supported his politics.


Alan Pascoe

He claimed that the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, had broken a written undertaking to host the games.

Anselmo Sule

According to La Cuarta, Sule held a friendship with important politicians such as Erich Honecker, Tony Blair, and Fidel Castro, throughout his life.

Black Boots on Latin Feet

Much is made of the fact that Tony Blair picked track 4, Cancel Today, as one of his Desert Island Discs when he appeared on that show in 1996, as at the time few people had heard of the band.

Bond Offshore Helicopters

The company also provides VIP charter services, and in the past have flown Tony Blair, Razorlight and Supergrass to various locations.

Camden New Journal

In 2006, the Camden New Journal - and its sister paper the Islington Tribune - broke the national story that Government minister Margaret Hodge had described the war in Iraq as British Prime Minister Tony Blair's biggest mistake.

Campbell Live

Campbell Live has interviewed various notable personalities, including Al Gore, Robert Fisk, Tony Blair, as well as an array of celebrities, including Adam Lambert and Metallica.

Chiantishire

The location rose to prominence in the UK in the mid 1990s when then Prime Minister Tony Blair chose it as one of his preferred summer retreats.

Des O'Connor

He has worked with many personalities of the day, from rock and pop stars, actors and TV performers, to politicians, princes, to luminaries such as Frank Sinatra, Adam Faith, Sean Connery, Liberace, the Beatles, Shirley Bassey, Barbra Streisand, Robert Redford, Cilla Black, Tony Blair and members of the Royal Family.

Europa XS

In 1997 UK Prime Minister Tony Blair launched the Millennium Products competition to promote British industry in the 21st Century.

Foreign Policy Centre

They include 'After Multiculturalism' by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, 'The Post-Modern State and the World Order' by Robert Cooper, 'Network Europe' and 'Public Diplomacy' by Mark Leonard, 'Brand China' by Joshua Cooper Ramo, 'Voices from Iran' by Alex Bigham and 'A Global Alliance for Global Values' by Tony Blair.

Four-hour target in emergency departments

Tony Blair felt the targets had been successful in achieving their aim.

Hinduja Group

On 26 January 2001, Prime Minister Tony Blair was accused of prejudicing the independent inquiry into the Hinduja passport affair, after he declared that Keith Vaz not done "anything wrong".

History of the London School of Economics

Anthony Giddens, the former Director of the LSE, stands as the creator of the "Third Way" followed by both Tony Blair (who unveiled the Fabian Window at LSE in 2005) and Bill Clinton.

Hugo Young

Young was a strong proponent of European integration, and sharply expressed his disappointment with the British government's eurosceptic politics in his columns, including Prime Minister Tony Blair's decision to side with George W. Bush instead of his EU partners in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Ian Lang, Baron Lang of Monkton

As chair of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, Lang insisted that Tony Blair's paid work for UI Energy Corporation, an oil firm with interests in Iraq, just 14 months after leaving office should be made public following a period when the committee agreed to keep it confidential due to "market sensitivity".

Kazakhstan–United Kingdom relations

President Nazarbayev, along with several Kazakh business leaders, met with Evans, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Queen Elizabeth II, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, Lord Mayor John Stuttard and Jean Lemierre, the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, in London, England on 21 and 22 November 2006.

Kevin Barron

Kevin Barron was a leading figure in the campaign to rewrite Clause IV under the new leadership of Tony Blair and it came as a surprise that there was no job in government for him after the victorious 1997 general election.

Kopspijkers

At first only Dutch people were impersonated, later also foreign celebrities (including Tony Blair, Nelson Mandela, John Kerry and Viktor Yushchenko) were impersonated.

Linda Colley

In 1999, Colley was one of several speakers invited to deliver a Millennium Lecture at 10 Downing Street by the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and his wife Cherie Blair.

Operation Murambatsvina

Kate Hoey MP called on former British Prime Minister Tony Blair to encourage South Africa to use its regional influence to put pressure on Zimbabwean authorities to cease the crackdown.

Sidney Blumenthal

He was present at the two original conferences, both in the U.K. and America in which he became friends with the newly elected Labour leader Tony Blair.

Siobhán O'Hanlon

O'Hanlon was a member of the first Sinn Féin delegation to meet the British Prime Minister Tony Blair in Downing Street in December 1997.

Sir Michael Barber

In the past, Sir Michael served as a partner and head of the global education practice at McKinsey, advisor to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and a global expert on education reform and implementation of large-scale system change.

Thomas J. Dodd Prize in International Justice and Human Rights

2003: Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, T.D., Prime Minister of Ireland and the Right Honourable Tony Blair

Trimdon Colliery

Its most famous resident was the former Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

Walter Scheib

His creations were served to many world leaders, including Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac, Vicente Fox, Václav Havel, Nelson Mandela and Boris Yeltsin.