By Blair’s own admission, Labour began fairly cautiously. They stuck to Tory spending plans for a little while. The government swiftly legislated for a National Minimum Wage. Interest rates were placed in the hands of the Bank of England. Legislation was passed allowing for referendums that provided devolved administrations and assemblies for Scotland and Wales.

Within days of becoming Prime Minister, Blair was deeply involved in the negotiations for an agreement in Northern Ireland. The negotiations between the British and Irish governments, involving the sectarian groups in Northern Ireland, were tense and complicated. The historic agreement was signed in April 1998. The agreement was then consented by referendums in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. A Northern Irish Assembly was established.  Paramilitary groups were decommissioned and prisoners were released. Though a threat remained from dissident groups, who killed 29 people in August 1998 in Omagh in an attempt to derail the agreement, the agreement brought an end to the most intense period of conflict.

Abroad, Blair also became convinced of the necessity of a more interventionist foreign policy. In 1998, he ordered British troops to intervene in Sierra Leone. In 1999, he played a significant part in the NATO intervention in Kosovo, which was aimed at preventing the Yugoslav military campaign against ethnic Albanian Kosovars. Blair committed British forces and encouraged American President Bill Clinton to consider a ground offensive. Ultimately, the Yugoslav leadership accepted NATO’s terms in June, after a two-and-a-half-month NATO air campaign.

In 2001, Blair was re-elected in another landslide victory. He hoped that his second government would be a more consequential one, with more wide-ranging domestic reform.

During his second government, Blair would legislate for foundation hospitals, academy schools, and university tuition fees.

In Europe, Blair signed the Treaties of Amsterdam (1997) and Nice (2000). He supported the enlargement of the European Union with the accession of ten countries in 2004 and two more in 2007. He also promised a referendum on the European Constitution, though the eventual rejection of the treaty by similar referendums in France and the Netherlands in 2005 ended any need to do so.

The 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks shook the world. Blair responded with unwavering support for President George W. Bush’s military response. First, NATO intervened in Afghanistan, which was broadly popular and which many saw as a proportional response to the terrorist attacks. The Taliban regime was quickly overthrown, and the al-Qaeda training camps that had been used by the September 11 plotters disbanded. A small NATO military force was deployed to Afghanistan and a new government was installed.

More controversial was Blair’s support for the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. The conflict was bitterly divisive, which was reflected by divisions within the Labour Party. Blair persuaded the Commons to vote for the conflict. The war was initially a military success, with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein swiftly defeated, but the occupation that followed was a prolonged disaster. The invasion had been justified in the belief that Hussein had an advanced Weapons of Mass Destruction programme. But no such weapons were ever found. Blair’s reputation did not recover.

Blair won another election victory in 2005, though the Labour Party lost nearly 50 seats, and Labour lost many voters to the anti-war Liberal Democrats. During his third ministry, Blair worked on more public sector reforms, and also brokered a power sharing agreement in Northern Ireland, which was a significant achievement. In response to the increased threat of terrorism, Blair would also pass anti-terrorist legislation.

Blair’s relationship with Chancellor Gordon Brown was a cornerstone of his premiership. Brown was the longest serving Chancellor of the modern era and played a key role in the government. It was Brown’s budgets that underpinned the general economic prosperity of the era and that provided the money for public sector reform and expansion. But relations between the two men were increasingly acrimonious. Brown had expected Blair to leave power much sooner. In September 2006, Brown coordinated his allies to demand a departure date from Blair, and he agreed that he would leave within a year.

Blair resigned in June 2007.