Biography
A generation of Conservative rule ended on 5/01/1997, when Anthony
Charles Lynton Blair was elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom,
becoming the youngest person to fill the post in 185 years.
Blair grew up in a politically oriented family. His father, Leo, was a
trial lawyer and university law teacher at Durham, who started out as a
Young Communist but had become a High Tory by 1963 and chairman of the
Durham Conservative Association. A stern presence, Leo suffered a massive
stroke while preparing to run for Parliament in 1963, and was unable to
speak for three years. Young Blair was attending Durham Choristers School
at the time and felt the financial impact of his father's health. At age
13, Blair earned a partial scholarship to Fettes, a spartan private school
in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he was something of an outsider. A rebel, he
took stands against conservative regimes, grew his hair long, and then ran
away from school. Upon being re-admitted, he became interested in
theatrical productions. Although not an outstanding student, Blair won a
place at Oxford and graduated from St. John's College in the class of
1975.
Blair was not interested in politics during his Oxford years, his
single gesture being to attend a pair of rallies against the neo-fascist
National Front. Religion seemed to provide a steadying influence, and
Blair was introduced to the books of Scottish theologian John MacMurray,
which attempted to combine Christian thought and psychology with
"community" politics. Blair was confirmed in the Anglican Church
on the Oxford campus, and remains committed to MacMurray's principles.
After Oxford, Blair studied law with barrister Alexander Irvine, whose
other pupils included a young woman named Cherie Booth from Lancashire
who had graduated at the top of her class at the London School of
Economics. The daughter of British actor Tony Booth, Cherie and Blair
began seeing each other, and married on 3/29/1980. They embarked on a
political partnership as well.
In 1982, Blair ran for Parliament as a Labour candidate and came in
third. In 1983, he and Cherie, who had been a party member since her
mid-teens, ran for seats. Less than three weeks before the general
election, a seat opened up in Sedgefield, a Labor Party stronghold. The
local party leaders chose Blair as the Labor candidate. Blair won by a
substantial majority. (Cherie lost her election and her taste for politics
as well.) Blair toiled away in Parliament while Cherie, earning $400,000 a
year practicing law, was the principle breadwinner. He was assistant
spokesman on the Treasury from 1984 to 1987; became deputy spokesman on
Trade & Industry in 1987 and was a writer for the Times from
1987-1988. He was elected to the Shadow Cabinet in October 1988, and
elected to the Executive Committee of the Labour Party in September 1992.
He became the leader of the British Labour Party after the sudden death of
John Smith on 5/12/94 by running against acting leader Margaret Beckett
and John Prescott to win the appointment on 7/21/1994.
The Blairs have four children. Their son Euan was born on 1/19/1984,
son Nicky on 12/06/1985, daughter Kathryn on 3/02/1988 and the newest
addition, Leo, on 5/20/2000. Leo is the first new baby born to the sitting
Prime Minister in 150 years.
Blair has been a popular, energetic and persuasive leader, aligning
himself with the U.S. under Presidents William Clinton, to whom he has
sometimes been compared, and George W. Bush. On May 13, 1999, he was
awarded the prestigious Charlemagne Prize for his peace-making efforts in
Northern Ireland. Calling for an election set for 6/7/2001, he won a
second term by a wide margin. Most recently, he risked his political
career when, in the face of domestic and international opposition, he
supported the Bush administration’s resolve to declare war on Iraq
without UN backing. In mid-February 2003, Blair’s standing in the
British polls had evaporated to a mere percentage point over the
Conservative opposition. On 3/18/2003, however, he won a crucial vote in
the House of Commons authorizing an attack on Iraq even though three
government ministers had resigned in protest.
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What Do You Think?
Tony Blair is a politician whose leadership is sourced in principles.
His support for the Iraq War is founded in the principle of accountability
regarding UN resolutions. He is not just an idealist. As Labour Party
leader, Blair worked to scale back the party's traditional adherence to
socialist ideology. He led a controversial campaign to remove from the
party's constitution a clause that called for common ownership, by British
workers, of the country's "means of production." His battle cry
was: "Power without principle is barren, but principle without power
is futile. This is a party of government, and I will lead it as a party of
government." Indeed, his centrist New Labour policies brought the
Labour party back into power after an 18-year hiatus.
- Where is the willingness to fight for principle in his chart? How is
it also grounded so it doesn’t become airy idealism?
- Blair’s chart is a great test case for house systems. Look at the
table below and you’ll see that every planet except Sun, Jupiter and
Mars changes houses amongst the big three house systems. Let’s see
who can come up with the best argument for why one house system works
better then the others.
|
Pluto |
Neptune |
Uranus |
Saturn |
Venus |
Mercury |
Moon |
North Node |
| Placidus |
5 |
6 |
3 |
6 |
12 |
12 |
10 |
10 |
| Koch |
4 |
5 |
3 |
5 |
11 |
11 |
10 |
10 |
| Equal |
3 |
5 |
2 |
5 |
11 |
11 |
9 |
9 |
We have 15 dates to time transits through the houses:
| Father has stroke |
1963 |
| Receives law degree; mother died shortly afterward |
1975 |
| Moves to London; begins law career |
1976 |
| Marries |
3/29/1980 |
| Loses 1st bid for Parliament |
1982 |
| Wins seat in House of Commons |
1983 |
| Birth of first child |
1/19/84 |
| Birth of second child |
12/06/1985 |
| Birth of third child/only daughter |
3/02/1988 |
| Elected to Shadow Cabinet |
10/1988 |
| Elected to Labour Party’s Executive Committee |
9/1992 |
| Elected Party Leader |
7/21/1994 |
| Becomes Prime Minister |
5/01/97 |
| Awarded Charlemagne Prize |
5/13/1999 |
| Birth of fourth child |
5/20/2000 |
- Cheri Booth, Blair’s wife was voted the most respected woman in
England. She graduated at the top of her law school class, brings home
a six figure salary as a lawyer and part-time judge, is the mother of
four and is an outspoken advocate of human rights. She jokes that she
suffers from the Allerednic syndrome (Cinderella in reverse) – when
a capable woman is condemned to a life of drudgery through marriage.
Like Hillary Clinton she has had to dim her light while her husband is
in office, but everyone knows that the situation is temporary. Can you
read a powerhouse spouse in the chart of Tony Blair? Is there a
similar configuration in Bill Clinton’s chart?
- What predictions can you make about Tony Blair’s future in the UK,
as a bridge between the US and Europe and in the reconstruction of
Iraq?
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Answers
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