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Former long-serving political editor of the BBC, Cole suggests that Blair’s attach on the British media – made in a speech as he prepared to vacate 10 Downing Street – was to a certain extent justified. “The recent burst of breast-beating about the loss of trust in the media has mostly been concentrated on broadcasting,” writes Cole. “But when you consider how many newspaper ‘scoops’ are not followed up by other papers, or even by the originator of the story, how many are never heard of again, you wonder whether trust in the printed word is being similarly eroded. Much of the blame for all this is put down to ‘spin’. Certainly the public relations trade, in which I include focus groups and public opinion polls, and not only in politics, but in business, the entertainment industry, and even charities, has gained an unenviable reputation for perverting the truth on behalf of its clients. This is where Tony Blair’s criticism of media obsession with ‘impact’ rings bells. Non-governmental organisation, charities, university researchers have all learned that the first sentence of their press release must contain a story. Sometime it is hyped. When I was news editor and deputy editor of The Guardian, we were very reluctant to print a story that claimed a forthcoming cure for cancer, lest it raised false hopes in patients and their families. Nowadays, researchers seem to claim cures for everything down to in-growing toenails, and gain publicity for them… The media do not operate in a vacuum. If we wonder why life is more strident today, we must look at others, including politicians, but also at ourselves. We have some kind of duty to truth, so far as we can discover what the truth is. But are we taking on the malignant forces that impede the search for truth as often as we ought?” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Media coverage of the contemporary British Labour party routinely suggests party leaders, notably Tony Blair, have been overly reliant on using focus group as a means of obtaining voter feedback. The paper explores this popular understanding by considering bow and when qualitative forms of opinion research began to play a significant role in developing campaign strategy. Following their incorporation into party planning during the mid-1980s, focus groups provided an increasingly influential (and at the time more discreet) source of data and support for the leadership's Policy Review later that decade. Following the 1992 election defeat selective findings from the party's qualitative research programme became integral to the public relations' initiatives of Labour's self-styled "modernisers," particularly in their largely successful attempt to delegitimise and then marginalise the role of the party's once formidable affiliated anion supporters in internal affairs. Crucially this contributed to a climate that enabled the key moderniser Tony Blair to emerge and win the leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article talks about the influence of scientist David King, who was the chief scientific adviser of Great Britain Prime Minister Tony Blair, to the plans and administration of Blair. Accordingly, Blair has once repeatedly spoken out against nuclear power in response to the Conservative government's proposals for more nuclear plants to solve problems relative to global poverty to environmental degradation. When King was on his position as the chief scientific adviser, he then pushed to the government to consider nuclear power integration. King explains that his views on nuclear power integration is not about political expediency but scientific necessity.

The article discusses the ways in which Great Britain's Labour Party has historically dealt with issues surrounding social class. The Party's policies surrounding social mobility, economic justice, and social democracy initiatives are evaluated by the author. The labour force development sponsored by the Labour Party and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is explained as well. Much of Britain's economic policy during this period largely transformed the nature of the nation's welfare state structure.

In this article the authors discuss the various viewpoints represented in the British Labour Party as regards the British civil service and the Westminster model of a parliamentary democracy. The article examines the fact that certain dissidents within the Labour Party questioned whether or not the civil service would work to implement the provisions of a left-of-center government. Attitudes toward the government bureaucracy manifested by the Labour prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown are investigated.

The article discusses the future of the civil public bureaucratic structure of the British government as of September 2008. It discusses government trends since the election of the New Labour Party government in May 1997, attempts to identify significant contemporary and future social trends challenges, as well public attitudes toward those challenges, and proposes several policy options. The article discusses the concept of new public management (NPM), the delivery of public services, and the rhetoric of then-British prime minister Tony Blair. It also discusses the effectiveness of third sector organizations (TSOs), private sector organizations (PSOs), and non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs).

The article discusses the concept of social mobility in Great Britain as of September 2008, particularly the meaning of the term as understood by politicians and the public. The article also analyzes potential polices that could promote social mobility. It also discusses criticism of measuring economic outcomes by social class, evidence of social mobility in Great Britain, and the impact of globalization on social mobility patterns. The article examines policy initiatives of the British government led by then-prime minister Tony Blair. The article also discusses British education policy and social policy as they relate to social mobility.

One of the most conspicuous European policy legacies of the Blair premiership pertains to its public salience: whereas European integration featured as a high-salience issue at the beginning of New Labour's tenure, it was transformed into a low-salience issue at the end of Tony Blair's period in office. Given the British public's euroscepticism and New Labour's relatively pro-European outlook, the decline in the salience of European policy accorded to the Blair government's electoral interests. As European policy could be expected to figure as an electoral liability for New Labour insofar as it was salient enough to become a significant dimension of issue voting, the Blair government faced strong electoral incentives to contain the public salience of European integration. New Labour responded to this incentive by pursuing a mix of different governing strategies that were suited to contribute to the pronounced downward trend in the salience of European integration. Specifically, the Blair government sought (1) to defuse the European policy cleavage between the two main British parties, (2) to depoliticise European policy decisions, (3) to delegate veto power to the general public, and (4) to defer the making of conclusive decisions on contentious European issues.British Politics (2008) 3, 156–182. doi:10.1057/bp.2008.1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses how the three successive Labour Governments under British Prime Minister Tony Blair's authoritarian plebiscitary tutelage have driven forward the neo-liberal transformation of Great Britain. It is stated that the lessons drawn from the Blair camp's reflections on the subsequent consolidation of Thatcherism as a radical neo-liberal project for the modernization of the British economy is the immediate political background to the rise of New Labour Party. It is noted that as the neo-liberal regime shift comes to be consolidated, significant changes in the state's role should be anticipated.

Constitutional reform is the greatest single legacy of the Blair government. The tidal wave of reforms in the first term released second and third waves which are still working their way through the system. These secondary waves include further big changes in devolution (in Wales, Scotland and London), in Lords reform, and electoral reform, and in the changes flowing from the Human Rights Act and the new Supreme Court. This second wave needs a strong narrative to explain the need for continuing reform, which works at the constitutional level and at the level of the individual citizen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Features the administration of British Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Contributions of Wilson to the modernization of Great Britain; Shortcomings of the Wilson administration; Comparison between the administrations of Wilson and Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The British choice in Iraq has been characterized as “Tony Blair's War,” with many believing that the personality and leadership style of the prime minister played a crucial part in determining British participation. Is this the case? To investigate, I employ at-a-distance measures to recover Blair's personality from his responses to foreign policy questions in the House of Commons. I find that he has a high belief in his ability to control events, a low conceptual complexity, and a high need for power. Using newly available evidence on British decision making, I show how Blair's personality and leadership style did indeed shape both the process and outcome of British foreign policy toward Iraq. The research reemphasizes the importance of individual level factors in theories of foreign policy, as well as offering a comprehensive explanation of a critical episode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the feasibility of a parliamentary reform in Great Britain. Mechanisms available for the plan to reform the parliament; Initiative presented by the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair to reform the parliament; Reasons for the plan to reform the legislative branch.

Labour's ethic of socialism emphasises collectivity. Its ethic of democracy celebrates power vested, supposedly, in the grass roots. Its idea of leadership was coloured by MacDonald whose national government gave leadership a bad name. Attlee, labour's longest serving leader, operated an ordered collective style with personal interventions notably over India, but made mistakes later, especially over Bevan's resignation. Wilson had a technocratic background and proved a superb leader of the opposition. His authority declined, however, amidst economic difficulties, with paranoid style seemingly dominating substance. Callaghan, the one trade unionist, was consensual, inspiring more trust than his predecessor. But authority nationwide went alongside declining control over party and movement. Tony Blair has been Labour's most powerful leader, building up central control and redefining policy, but by 2003 he faced demands, especially over Iraq, to reconnect with his party and act more as a Labour prime minister. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An assessment of the main trends and tendencies of the New Labour government under Tony Blair since 1997. It is compared and contrasted with the record of previous British governments in their attempts to modernise and reform the UK, which is a theme common to all. While New Labour shares this overriding aim, and there are evident similarities with past administrations, it has introduced formal constitutional reform in large measure—if in a rather piecemeal and haphazard manner. It has also introduced a plethora of agencies and processes that are largely uncharted, still less codified or publicly accountable. The personnel staffing these informal innovations constitute a nomenklatura-type caste in British government. Both the formal and informal changes and their manner of implementation faithfully reflect the style of Tony Blair's prime ministership: energetically pursued, but illthought through. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the attempts of the British government in developing new, technologically-enabled ways of managing and communicating information through the use of information and communications technologies (ICTs). The author said that most government forms around the world became interested in the potentials of ICTs since the early 1990's to create a modernized system of government. A discussion about the electronic service delivery in Great Britain under the leadership of prime minister Tony Blair is also presented.

Evaluates the ethical dimension of foreign policy in Great Britain under Prime Minister Tony Blair. Projecting a different identity for Great Britain; Significant departures from the foreign policy pursued by previous governments; The policy process.