POL147B 2. The British Labour Party. History Essay

POL147B 2
Student's Name
Institutional Affiliation
POL147B 2
The British Labour Party was characterized by a series of internal changes that happened post-1983. Nevertheless, the massive changes to the party began happening in1994, after Tony Blair became its leader. According to Shaw (2016), after the death of John Smith in 1994, Blair was elected the party leader, paving the way for the era of New Labour. When he became party leader, the Labour Party had been in the opposition for more than 15 years. The party had lost four consecutive general elections, a record which had seemed unprecedented in the past. Notably, the 1992 loss seemed worse, given that it came at the hands of an enfeebled Tory-led government, which was marred by recession challenges (Shaw, 2016). During Blair's accession into the Labour Party's helm, the last general election the party had won was in 1974 when Harold Wilson was re-elected as the Prime Minister. Since then, the Labour Party had been led by five party leaders, all of who lost the general elections (Shaw, 2016). In this sense, a new leader who could transform the party was needed to reverse this failure pattern.
Subsequently, Tony Blair became the Labor leader projecting a sign of freshness and hope for the party. He was elected the party leader at the age of 41, thereby illustrating glamour, youthfulness, and freshness. He began by announcing a slogan of 'modernization' and went ahead to unofficially dumb his Labour Party as the 'the New Labour' (Bashevkin, 2000). The trends by Blair seemed more of marketing strategies rather than political philosophy (Bashevkin, 2000). Nevertheless, this strategy was effective in that Blair's and his party's popularity began rising among the pollsters. Blair took over the Labour Party when it looked seriously demoralized due to the continued defeats and presented himself as a person who could make the party ascend back to power again (Bashevkin, 2000). From the onset, Blair looked to transform the Labour Party by changing its image through eradicating its traditions. In essence, the party was characterized by conflicts and struggles between the left and the right of the party, between advanced socialists and cautious reformists, and the presence of some more radical leaders (Bashevkin, 2000). Also, members of the Labour Party were keen on following traditions such as loyalty to the state-socialist Clause Four of the party's constitution and singing 'The Red Flag' anthem (Bashevkin, 2000). Blair was adamant about transforming the Labour Party by ditching some of the party's traditions.
...