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This article argues that reforms of higher education finance for undergraduates in England introduced by the Blair government in 2006 provided a progressive strategy for achieving the central objectives of higher education of quality (better), access (wider) and size (larger). Reforms in 2012 are a not a strategy but a collection of ad hoc arrangements. They include the good (a higher fees cap, a higher interest rate on student loans, better information and improved support for part-time study), the bad (abolishing most taxpayer support for teaching in the arts and humanities and the social sciences, and raising excessively the threshold at which loan repayments start) and the unspeakable (abolishing Education Maintenance Allowances and AimHigher). The reforms are fiscally costly and hence perpetuate the central problem of capped student numbers, and will not stand the test of time. The concluding section outlines the next White Paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the use made by political parties of branding, as a means of establishing party values and winning political support. It looks in particular at the way in which political parties use communication to create, build and maintain political brands. The paper involves an examination of the recent history of the British Labour Party. After a long period in the political wilderness, the party rebranded itself as “New Labour” in the mid-1990s, and-as New Labour- swept to power in a landslide election victory in 1997, under their new leader, Tony Blair. Using media coverage and material written by some of the architects of New Labour, the paper will describe the creation of the “New Labour” brand, and look at how it was developed and used to generate political support. The paper will also consider the evolution and development of the brand, as the substance underlying the stated brand values has come to be questioned, not least by so-called “Old Labour” supporters of the party. The paper will draw conclusions regarding the successful management of a political brand, pointing in particular at the need to ensure that the performance of a party espousing a particular brand supports and reinforces communicated brand values and the brand itself. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the 1990s, the 'knowledge economy' was hailed as a key driver of future prosperity by progressive policymakers in developed democracies. According to its proponents, in the knowledge economy, companies and countries alike would succeed by cultivating workers' knowledge – as opposed to traditional forms of capital such as plant and machinery. This had radical implications for public policy, implying that education reform and other supply-side interventions could deliver inclusivity as well as prosperity. Today, however, this benevolent vision of the social and economic impacts of technological progress has been superseded by an altogether more dystopian view, associated with automation and the rise of artificial intelligence, as well as transformations in the digital economy and the evolving nature of globalisation. This paper analyses that transition. It charts the key assumptions of the knowledge economy concept, through an intellectual history that focuses on how these ideas manifested themselves in the rhetoric of the UK Government under Tony Blair. It then shows how evolving understandings of the digital economy, technological progress and globalisation challenge these assumptions, and the policy agenda that was premised on them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on investigations conducted on a research on the link of combined measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism prior to the allegations of a conflict of interest in 2004. Payment received by Andrew Wakefield, author of the paper, from a lawyer to provide an evidence which would support a case of a child who suffered autism due to the MMR vaccine; Remarks from British Prime Minister Tony Blair on the issue.

From his very earliest days in office, Tony Blair believed that if he was to achieve his broader educational reforms then the teaching profession itself needed modernising—it had to become a '21st century profession'. This paper charts the background to this aspiration and the complex range of interrelated policies used to achieve that reform. They included: a changed role for initial teacher education; a more differentiated workforce; strategies to 'focus' professionalism (appraisal, standards and CPD); and a redefinition of professional knowledge. Through these policies, the Government hoped to harness teacher professionalism to their broader reform agenda. The paper concludes with a discussion of Tony Blair's legacy in this field both in England and internationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the achievements of the Labour government's education policy between 1997 and 2001. Tony Blair claimed that his government would make education a priority. The first part of the paper reviews the scale of education spending in relation to the economy at large and within the education budget. The second part of the paper looks at the productivity of schools. How far have the changes that have affected schools in the past 10 years, and in the past 5 years in particular, had an impact on the quality of school achievements? The paper suggests there have been significant improvements, not just on average but especially in the gains made in poor areas and in the least good schools. Finally the paper discusses the funding of higher education, the introduction of income‐related loans to cover maintenance, and up‐front fees. The paper concludes that some serious errors were made in policy design. Even so, the use of the Inland Revenue as the collection agency was a successful innovation and should be built upon. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Debate surrounds the relative importance of development aid and development policy in donor efforts to support international development. Likewise, the literature on UK development policy points to its putative stability and consistency over time. Both perspectives, however, underplay the political contention which characterises UK development policy and its variable effects. This article, therefore, examines UK development policy between 1997 and 2016 and the varying extent to which it gave rise to contentious politics over time. It explores three politically-significant periods in the context of UK development policy between 1997 and 2016: the first between 1997 and 2003, characterised, I argue, by political consensus and managed contention; a second between 2003 and 2010, characterised by transition and emerging political contention; and a third, between 2010 and 2016, characterised by contentious politics and political fracturing. I associate the first period with effective political vision and direction and the third with a significant erosion of both, to the detriment of UK development policy and its efficacy. In conclusion, I argue that UK development policy has been most effective when it has been underpinned by a clear and consensual political vision. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of trust, cynicism and efficacy on young peoples' (non)voting behaviour during the 2005 British general election. Design/methodology/approach - Survey data were gathered from 1,134 interviewer-administered questionnaires with young first-time voters during the three-week period following the British general election in May 2005. Validated attitudes statements were used to measure their levels of trust, cynicism and efficacy. Findings - The research shows that young people are generally distrusting of and very cynical about politicians and the Prime Minister (Tony Blair) Thus, in part, the data support the existing evidence that cynicism contributes to feelings of political alienation. However, the paper's findings also indicate that while young people can be highly distrusting and cynical, they can also be interested in the election and vote. Research limitations/implications - Current, negative evaluations of young people and electoral politics need to be reviewed. While, it cannot be denied that this age group are highly cynical, and their electoral participation is in decline, for some, this cynicism, when combined with personal efficacy, can act as a positive force to stimulate "monitorial" interaction with election offerings. Consequently, further research is needed to understand young peoples' perceptions of democracy and electoral politics, how their personal efficacy can be increased and what feeds their cynicism. Originality/value - This paper offers a contemporary understanding of young people as an interested and critical citizenry and raises a number of important questions that set a new agenda for political marketers researching youth electoral engagement in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the emergence and demise of the Third Way using Foucault's thought to investigate the governmentality of Third Way politics in terms of its techniques of governing focusing on the construction of the citizen-consumer, the social market, and the reform of public services, especially in the context of Tony Blair's New Labor administration in the UK. On this basis the paper makes some broad comments about education, power and freedom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the important changes to the European Union (EU) policy-making process within the UK core executive introduced by the Blair government between 1997 and 2007. Employing a strategic-relational network framework, it sets out to map the changing face of policy-making within the Whitehall EU network, and to evaluate and explain the impact of adaptation. The article argues that Labour's reform strategy has been double-edged: day-to-day coordination of EU policy has become increasingly informal, ad hoc and delegated downwards to departmental players while the role of the centre has been greatly strengthened in order to provide more effective strategic direction and political leadership. Despite these seemingly coherent reforms, however, many critical features of the process have been potentially detrimental to the projection of a more constructive European policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an investigation of policy-making by the Blair government on the issue of the UK's European Monetary Union (EMU)/Eurozone membership. The Blair government inherited a 'wait and see' policy from its predecessor, and introduced its own variations in the detail of this policy. In particular, five economic tests were invented and placed at the centre of EMU policy-making, in order to depoliticise the political risks during a general election and referendum while also serving the needs of party management. This paper applies four well-known theories of policy-making to the EMU policy case: the broker state pluralist model, instrumental Marxism, the core executive model and rational choice theory. This paper demonstrates that each model possesses a degree of applicability, but argues that instrumental Marxism seems the most appropriate theoretical model among those examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reflects on one example of knowledge transfer conducted by the ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme which involved briefing Tony Blair for his December 2006 speech on multiculturalism and extremism. Two key themes in the report prepared for Blair and his speech-writer are described - the nature of contemporary complex multicultures and the 'fragility' of white English identities. These are contrasted with themes in Blair's speech which, in general, celebrated (white) British national character and took a traditional 'divided communities' perspective on UK multiculturalism while introducing further measures to encourage 'integration'. The paper describes the dilemmas and challenges faced in formulating a report for this context, in particular issues about developing a narrative in a highly contested field, complicity with power and credentials to speak. It argues, too, that although ostensibly an exceptional opportunity, more mundane acts of knowledge transfer might be more effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Research Assessment Exercise (henceforth abbreviated to RAE) was introduced in 1986 by Thatcher, and was continued by Blair. So it has now been running for 21 years. During this time, the rules governing the RAE have changed considerably, and the interval between successive RAEs has also varied. These changes are not of great importance as far as the argument of this paper is concerned. We will concentrate on the main features of the RAE which can be summarised as follows. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper reviews the performance of the National Health Service under the Labour government of Tony Blair. It shows that there have been some dramatic increases in resources going into the service, but also that these do not seem to be delivering the improvements in activities that might have been expected. The paper argues that this is partly because of capacity constraints, but also because the mixture of organizational forms introduced by the government has resulted in misdirected and conflicting incentive structures for the key actors. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The first Blair administration faced clamorous criticism from some lobby groups for its handling of rural issues. Yet Labour has presented itself as a ‘one–nation’ party representing both urban and rural areas. This paper examines the basis of recent claims about the parliamentary representation of rural Britain, and analyzes the results of the last two General Elections. It illustrates how the malleability of the category of ‘rural’ allows for contrasting claims about rural representation, and highlights the continuity of party representation among those constituencies located outside the main urban areas in the 1997 and 2001 parliaments, despite regular rural protest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) defense and security news briefs. The institute will host a defence lecture by Prime Minister Tony Blair of Great Britain on January 12, 2007 in the Plymouth area which will be open to members. RUSI announces the publication of a Whitehall Paper "The Ascendancy of Political Risk Management and its Implications for Global Security and Business Investment," by Peter Truscott which examines the defence and energy sectors.

The election of the Conservative-Liberal coalition in May 2010 provides the opportunity to start to map out the record of the Labour governments between 1997 and 2010. This paper deals with the specific question how the Brown/Blair governments performed on public expenditures when compared to the records of UK Labour governments since 1945. Did the public expenditure record of the 1997 represent a departure from that of previous Labour governments? This is important to ascertain since there are strongly held beliefs that New Labour was not committed to Labour's historic commitments of income redistribution and universal benefits. The analysis that follows is constructed around five major public expenditure programmes that reflect Labour's priorities. These include total expenditure, expenditure on health, education, housing and social security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore the similarity of the reputation of political leaders with those of their parties and to assess the claim of causal links. Design/methodology/approach - A multidimensional measure of brand personality is used to measure the reputation among voters of the three main parties and their leaders in two surveys each prior to British General Elections in 2001 and 2005. Findings - The reputations of leader and party are highly correlated, but statistically distinct in both studies. The leader's reputation appears to influence that of the party more than vice versa. However, the decline in Tony Blair's reputation between 2001 and 2005 appears to have influenced more those loyal to other parties. Research limitations/implications - Further work would be useful to compare the relative value of cognitive and affective measures of reputation, particularly in predicting voting behaviour. Practical implications - The findings emphasise the role of the leader's reputation in managing that of a political party. A change of leader will, inevitably, produce a change in party reputation. The two reputations interact and monitoring such effects will require similar ways of measuring both. Originality/value - Links between the reputations of organisations and their leaders have been claimed but never demonstrated empirically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the campaign strategies of the Labour Party in Great Britain during the elections of 2001 and 2005. Using comparative analysis, this research investigates the factors that contributed to the election results. Beginning with the issues that the party raised in both campaigns, evaluating the polls before the elections, and counting the leadership of Tony Blair, the author will try to come to a conclusion by comparing the two elections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recurrent theme in New Labour’s public service reforms has been a tendency to orient services to the user as a consumer or customer of those services. However a consumerist approach – and particularly the ‘customer is always right’ imperative – appears problematic in relation to criminal justice. This article uses content analysis to explore the use of consumerist narratives by selected members of the UK criminal justice policy network (Prime Minister, Home Office and local government). It finds that the terms customer and consumer are used less in relation to criminal justice than they are in relation to other public services. When used, it is ‘law-abiding citizens’, particularly victims and witnesses, that are the priority customers of the service. Customer-orientated policing is primarily about standardizing services and encouraging more coproductive behaviours. The language of choice and personalization, which has come to characterize New Labour’s approach to public service reform, has as yet had little penetration into criminal justice. However, the policy network is fragmented, with different narratives of consumerism emerging from Tony Blair (the then Prime Minister), the Home Office and local government, demonstrating the contingent ways in which policy-makers draw on historical traditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Realising the potential of new technology' was one of the central educational themes of New Labour's 1997 election manifesto, with 'information and communications technology' (ICT) established subsequently as a prominent feature of the Blair administration policy portfolio. As such New Labour can claim rightly to have made an unprecedented and sustained political commitment to technology in education, directing over £5 billion of funding towards educational ICT during the 1997 to 2007 period. Yet the fact remains that the New Labour ICT agenda has failed to achieve the much promised technological 'transformation' of the UK education system. With this in mind the present paper develops the argument that New Labour's concern with educational ICT was driven primarily by concerns over enhancing competitiveness in a globalising economy, creating a lifelong learning system fit for a successful knowledge economy and modernising the formal education sector. Thus whilst New Labour's ICT agenda may well have had the short term impact of increasing the physical presence of ICT resources in all education institutions, its longer-term educational legacy was compromised by the wider macro-level issues it purported to address. As such the legacy of this high-profile segment of policy-making should be seen primarily in terms of establishing ICT as an ideological presence in the UK education system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]