I like how he broke stride from Bush and decided to distance himself from him. It showed that he is an individual and not some clone willing to be lead blindly to the slaughter...

he was ok

He has done a lot of good work.

I like Tony Blair. He got a lot of flack for agreeing with us on Iraq but he knows about terrorism and has guts

I'm somewhat indifferent. I guess I have no real problems with Blair.

The guy understands the importance of the definitive issue of our time.

I'm sorry but I'm reading some of the comments on this page and my only guess is that some of you don't live in Great Britain and you don't have a clue about Tony Blair. HE IS AN ABSOLUTE JOKE, not to mention he looks like Mr Punch. Don't get me wrong hes fantastic when it comes to foreign policy, unfortunately when it comes to his own country Blair doesn't know his ass from his elbow....now does that sound like a leader to you? I admire him for his approach to the terrorist alerts in Britain and thats all I admire him for. But let me start by going down the route of the millenium dome. A building for what purpose? As if Great Britain doesn't have enough problems and wasting 1 billion pounds ($1.5 billion dollars) worth when it could have gone to sheltering the homeless, subsidising student grants, better public transport, recruiting more policemen on the street to prevent violent crimes, pay rises for nurses, teachers and firemen. What does he do for people who have commited a violent crime..easy...their protected by the law and the victim and their families serve the sentence. Not to mention the millenium dome is one of the most ugliest buildings in London and not one international buyer is interested in watching their money go down the toilet. Well they've got more sense and what does Tony Blair care he never listened to the people who protested about a giant building outside their window with no sight of a visible sky (I mean does this man listen to anyone apart from George Bush), not to mention pay-and-display parking and parking tax for the residents on those roads and the "thousands upon thousands" of toursits that are NOT EVEN THERE as it closed less than a year it opened. Now we have issues in Great Britain where there are 16 year old children who are homeless, paeodophiles who live 2 yards away from school playgrounds as their addresses are being protected for whose safety Mr Blair? Certainly not the parents or the children as we have the highest number of child murders in europe. Nurses, teachers, policemen, firemen and people with more vital jobs are so badly paid when we have footballers and some of the worst "talents" who get paid ridiculous money and they have the audacity to moan!!!!! Don't let me even start about how he abolished student grants and thousands upon thousands of university students who are trying to make a better life are not only put-off by the idea of going into higher education, but leaving univerity at least £12,000 in debt. Whilst he was busy climbing Bush's ass and playing "poodle", delays in public transport not to mention safety and violent crime rose statistically. We had young offenders on the rampage that were responsible for 40% of the crime in Great Britain and they were being protected by the law. I admire that in America you commit a crime your going to pay no matter how old you are, but thats not the policy in Great Britain instead we have a muppet running the show whose time is now up in 10 Downing Street. Get out Mr Blair...you've had 5 years to deliver and there are no results just a country thats a complete and utter mess.

War in Iraq his undoing. He was a very good prime minster until the war became unpopular.  The economy strong, the Northern Ireland problem no longer an issue, most of all he was on top of his job. His finest moment was during the crisis following Diana's death when he marshalled the nation.

Started well, but couldn't shake the Bush lapdog tag, and in fact seemed to enjoy it for a while.

That did him little good at home or abroad, and probably diminished his legacy, which particularly on the domestic front, was pretty solid.

His main contribution to British politics may have been picking the Labour Party up of the scrapheap of internal discord and making it a viable power in national politics again.

To the best of my knowledge he has always backed the United States.

As an American pursuing what Americans call "graduate study" and the British call "postgraduate study," I was originally very happy to see Tony Blair become Prime Minister in 1997. It was truly a relief to see Britain emerging from what I considered Tory darkness. (Yes, I am shock! gasp! a LIBERAL!) Blair truly seemed to have a vision and direction--apart from knowing how to keep his party around him and mastermind the handling of Diana's death. (OK, the Millennium Dome was a rather different story...) And I loved the way the British voted him again in 2001, virtually annihilating the Tory party again. It felt like the election and reelection of Clinton all over again. Bravo, Tony, bravo, Britain. However, my views have changed substantially since then. I'm not sure why Blair considered it necessary to play Winston Churchill (really, poodle) to our wanna-be George Washington (aka Chimp-in-chief Bush). The war was little more than their "fancy dress" costume ball: let's play while others die. If I contemn Bush for just about blessing our nation for the next century with a nice sky-high debt and sorry employment numbers (really, what is it with these nutty George IIIs: George Washington, George Bush I, George Bush II), I despise Blair for opposing the wishes of 2/3 of his people. Has he forgotten the fate of Thatcher so soon?

Could have been a good Prime Minister if he had kept his head out of Bush's ass

Has taken a justifiable beating in his homeland due to the population of literate Brits who fail to see the upside of being dubya's lap-dog concerning failed foreign policy. . .Blair didn't read the tea-leaves well at all. . .

Tony Blair has done everything he can to keep Britain a close ally with the United States. I think although the people of Great Britain may not appreciate what he’s doing now, they’ll find out sooner or later being a close ally with the U.S is a very good thing.

Of all the Western European leaders, the Prime Minister of the U.K. (presently Tony Blair) may have the toughest job. The country's historical ties with the rest of the English speaking world along with Churchill's advice to his successors to remain strongly allied with the U.S. keeps the British straddled between American and New Europe's interests. As an American, I have no real standing to comment or accurately analyze Blair's domestic policies, but clearly he has followed Churchill's advice in the current conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere. It appears that this isn't a necessarily popular position, something that concerns me considering how the British have historically been more realistic and practical than some European counterparts (e.g. the French). Nevertheless, a popularist will never go down in the history books are a true and effective leader, so Blair will eventually go down as a man who made tough but correct decisions or one who gambled incorrectly. My guess is the former, and for that I'm grateful.

a good leader who has done well in the face of inferior rivals. has now given a date for when he will stand down. he has faced accusations about corruption in his party but he remains leader. all round a very good and successful prime minister

UPDATE: I'm not sure it's fair to criticize American conservatives for liking Blair who, by British standards, is really a liberal. Implying that conservatives don't know he's really a liberal is pretty arrogant, we know it very well, we know what party he represents and we know well his prior collegial friendship with Bill Clinton (liberals weren't the only ones paying attention in the '90's). His slim electoral success recently (much like Bill Clinton's and GWB's) is not lost on us either. Conservatives like this guy because he has committed to something we believe in. Something liberals are somehow still tone-deaf to: he has made a commitment to fight terrorism. Almost to a man, evey Brit on RIA has already surrendered and wants to go back to the Ostrich Theory of fighting terrorists. It's the singular arena where Bush remains popular among conservatives, even as he is betraying conservatives on nearly every other front. Why would you be surprised that we like Blair who has been a staunch ally in the face of whiny, screechy anti-war criticism for so many years? The rest of his governance doesn't affect the US much. But his stalwart loyalty to the war in Iraq (which, believe it or not, conservatives STILL see as a battle worth winning, unlike liberals and moderates) and his opposition to terrorism is appreciated by conservatives. ORIGINAL COMMENT 4/13/05: All the 5's and 1's make me chuckle. In the context of all the excellent and all the incompetent leaders of the British Empire, it's hard to accord Tony Blair status as the most anything leader they've ever had. He stuck with his ally (the United States) when two other long-time, but historically unreliable, allies (France and Germany) abandoned the US, and so he's Bush's butt-boy. Right. Riveting comments, yawn. He was buddies with Clinton and has stuck to his commitments, is a funny and witty international politician in a very difficult time in world history. Do Schroeder and Chirac enjoy worldwide respect today, in all corners? Nobody has all the answers, certainly not in advance. History will treat him kindly, particularly if the European Union pans out. I appreciate his courage under fire for remaining steadfast to what he thinks is right, that is all you can ask of someone in his position.

Note how most of us Brits here give 1 star and all the 4-5 stars come from Yanks. Just to keep you non Brits abreast of the Blair government's latest balls-up in freeing over 1,000 hardened foreign criminals back onto our streets when they were meant to've been deported. Now its costing millions for the police to track them down..again. This government really are the biggest buch of useless t*ssers it's been our misfortune to suffer. They're also spineless pushovers when it comes to their big corporate buddies wanting favours or when Dubya wants a helping hand. Worse still,they keep pushing through loads of daft EU regulations when others like the Italians and French say f*** it.

The only thing to be said for Blair is he's not John Prescott, possibly the biggest c*n* in the world today and certainly in Britain. This man is a charmeless, hatfeul and cretinous yobbo who should not be allowed out of a high security mental institution let alone out in public where he can spout off his unfounded halfwitted opinions. For those who reading this who arent British, this man used to be a steward on a North Sea ferry and who has no qualifications or experience of law, industry, science,business or anything which would stand him in good stead in being a politico. I reiterate, an absolute t*sser. Incidentally, Gordon Brown's also an a***hole.

Pre Tony Blair was a poor time for the UK. The 80s was hideous. The Conservatives were scary people when they were in power. We were a people living in the past and the whole country was running on fumes. Blair is by no means perfect but people forget how much better our country is now than 10/20 years ago.

Let's mop it up, Tony, and then head for the barn!

What a loser. He's turned the country from NO.1, to a underrachieving chav-pit

not only he beleives in the real liberation of iraqis above all by following UN demands with no success contrary of bush cabinet for cheney arm sales and oil monopoly - he puts his leadership on the line, looses many so-called friends, sticks by his beleifs, has gutts and prays to be eared based on his fears of doing the same history mistakes of the past which shut their eyes, cover their ears to the world cry for help from ireland, to kosovo, to india, china, africa or iraq for that matter - thats why tony acted agaisnt all, bush or no bush could ave been clinton he wouls have taken care of iraq - actualy convinced bill to bomb saddam in 1999 for not respecting 1441 and clinton only granted 4 days but didnt want to start another desert storm which is the paranoia of bush, not democrats like clinton! together blair and clinton fixed ireland and kosovo and dont think for a minute that middle east is bush work! blair made that project and gave it to bush for him to look good - blair bargain with bush for a middle east plan in exchange of blair support in iraq! blair is the bridge builder, the pacifier, the moderator, the preacher for good in the all world! not bush, not chirac, not putin! a hearted man with future vision of world prosperity trough the tuff decision of few and the sacrifice of millions! bless all those. blair rules!

Many British Tories, as magellan hints at, are amused by the popularity of Tony Blair among American conservatives. What would they say if they discovered that he espoused many of the same policies as Bill Clinton, who makes many conservatives foam at the mouth? I suppose its that Blair is a little less corrupt than old Bubba. But that's beside the point. He appears to have won a historic third term, the first for a Labour prime minister since the party was founded back in 1900. However he won re-election with one of the smallest margins in modern British history, he got only 36% of the vote, hardly a vote of confidence. He maintains a 66 vote plurality in Parliament, 60 members of Parliament who were closely aligned with Blair lost re-election. In short, it was a Pyrrhic victory for him. Although he has had some significant accomplishments by improving the business climate in the country and improving public services, it seems as if his foreign policy objectives are much less popular. He's far more of a free-market conservative than ironically enough some of his predecessors like Margaret Thatcher. Given that the British have a tendency of harshly judging the legacies of Ministers who conduct unpopular wars, I would say that Blair is not going to go down as a successful PM due to Iraq. From the Crimean War to the Boer War, British voters have historically punished Prime Ministers whom they feel have poorly conducted a war. It seems that the British have done just that. Indeed, the only reason why Blair's party won was because the Tories don't have an agenda that's relevant for modern Britain. The perception (which is reality in politics) is that they're debating the same issues that were timely about 20-30 years ago. With Europe rapidly integrating, the Tories have become increasingly irrelevant. Their small gains came only because of Blair's unpopularity and the liberal vote spitting between the two primary central-left parties in the country. While Blair did win with a large enough majority to govern, it seems that he will only govern for a short time, as he won't be running again for another term. The end of his leadership will probably also indicate Labours move back more towards its traditional roots as the party of the left in Britain, being that many in the leadership like Gordon Brown come from that wing of the party.

One of the really interesting things about the US conservatives' love of Tony Blair is that he is a liberal. Exactly the sort of whiny, bleeding heart, idealist that many of those same conservatives would crucify if he was practicing politics in the US. Very ironic. However, I don't want to sound like I disagree with the approach of supporting someone based on what they do as opposed to what political team they are on. I think it's a fantastic approach. If only us Americans could apply that same pragmatic and intelllectually honest approach to our politics. For example, I think that a US conservative that turns a blind eye to the crippling, socialist spending of George W. Bush is not a real conservative. A cheerleader yes, but a conservative no.

I'm happy he was elected for a third term. Since 1997 he has been a strong force in Britain and an even stronger friend of the United States.

One of the few world leaders that has stood beside the United States through thick and thin and has not bowed down to the U.N.

Britain is a democracy. Tony Blair wanted to go to war with Iraq The majority of British people didnt. Tony made fake dossiers on Iraqs weapons of mass destruction and how they can fire within 45minutes! British public still not in favour of war. Tony Blair goes to war without Britich or UN support.

I love Prime Minister Blair. I think he is a man of integrity and remembers his friends, even when they are in trouble. He knows what it means to be a friend and an ally and stuck with the States even when France would not. He doesn't buckle under pressure, even international pressure, and sticks to his guns and does what he says he will do. He has an unsupassable sense of humor. On one visit to the States a senator greeted Blair in D.C. He showed Blair the Congressional Library and kindly told the story about how the British had burned it down during the war of 1812. Blair just kind of looked and said, This is a little late but, sorry about that. My gosh how could you not love this man.

Over rated narcissus and meglomaniacal pietic warmonger. What a God awful Plonker!!!!!!!

He is another man with big balls like his friend Jose Maria Aznar

Went totally against the wishes of his people.

i saw tony blair making out w/george bust. .....seriously, blair sucks and if you see him, be sure to give him a swift kick for me.

Bush's grubby little follower. Warmonger. Liar. Has done more to hinder world peace than ANY British Prime Minister in recent memory!

This man is the most insidious ever to hold office in the British Parliament. Now he wants to ban people supporting whichever party they wish (however questionable a party that is)and is a further demonstration of his removing our freedoms. What is this ghastly man's aim? Fellow Brits should get this man out before he does any further damage to our democracy. His ratings are standing at 16%! All redneck Americans that think he's great should take heed. I think aliens clouded Blair's brain at some stage. What did he get from George Bush? Money? Contracts with large corporations? Forcing Britain to spy on the UN and other unsavoury stuff. With friends like these, give me the French. Update: To show you what we think of this man, go to www.impeachblair.org

Too many things could be said about Mr Blair, none of them good in my book. Letting others come into the country and scrounge off us getting benefits for everything whilst other foreigners who come here to actually work and pay their taxes cannot get British Citizenship. What sense does that make? Hospitals disgraceful, the only way for proper medical care is privately. Has he actually done anything to help this country? The fact that he promised to reduce accidents on the road by half by 2005 and hasnt done it says alot too. What did he actually try and do about that?! I will tell you, he took it out on the learner drivers. Making them do stupid Hazard Perception tests, which will have no relevence to the way you drive when you get a licence anyway. Besides, people who come to live here who took their test in their own country can get a British Licence no problem, no test, when all they have to do to pass in their country is drive up a runway and back again! REDICULOUS! Tony is an absolute pain in the arse who needs to be kicked out next year. I dont care if BoBo the Clown is the next Prime Minister, at least it wont be Mr Tony Crappy Blair!!! 90% of everyone I talk to is ANTI-BLAIR, so I pray he is kicked to the curb next year, where he belongs!! RE-INCARNATE WINTON CHURCHILL!!!!!! The only decent PM yet!

Say what you want, but he was there when WE needed him. What more could you ask for?

The man has done absolutely nothing for the country since he's been in power (1997). And more and more everyday he uses ingenuity to find ways to increase the burdens on the taxpayers. He has a cunning style of distorting, distracting and distancing (himself from) everything. At any rate, the Brits love it! I'm also afraid his successor stands a good chance of capitalising on this as the populace wont take any opposition party seriously. If he ran America for a month, they'd soon realise that it takes more than an accent.

I'm English, living in England. Either this git gets voted out or I emigrate. He is a joke and a shame on this country.

I love Blair because I think he's hot, and I don't care how swallow it sounds. And yes, I agree with many of his principles, pretty much everything except going to that war.

He has been a big help on the war in iraq.

I'm not in England though I was born there. Here in Canada our politicians are just as bad as Blair although you probably don't hear very much about them in Europe. Anyway Blair is just a slightly more intelligent version of Bush. Not much to crow about there, obviously ... just like Thatcher was a slightly brighter version of Reagan. [ Only North America elects people who think the world is five thousand years old.] Politicians are thugs, murderers and thieves, not necessarily in that order. It appears that people only voted for this dink because they were desperate to get rid of the Conservatives. Blair promised some reasonable social democratic policies and, of course,lied about all. What else is new? Par for the course, n'est-ce pas? I hope England manages to survive this asshole ... she probably will. The British are a pretty tough lot, when push comes to shove.

Pure balls.

Blair had the potential to be a good Prime Minister, but he squandered it and went off to do whatever Bush asks of him. What a waste.

Charlatan.

Bush lapdog and not a true 'labouuuuuuuur' advocate.

Blair has no morals and no principles, and is 100% image. He can't say a single sentance without pausing five or six times. More importantly though, he's destroying this country. Why else are so many people leaving to live in Australia, New Zealand, Spain, even France for goodness sake. When the British prefer to live in France things must be bad.

I enjoyed hearing GuavaMonkey's comments on Tony Blair. I always wondered how the average Englishman on the street felt about Blair. I used to be one of the Americans who idolized Blair until he got his country involved in the Iraq war. I was puzzled by his decision to do so, as the British seemingly had no beef with Iraq, so why involve his country in this regrettable conflict? Then I saw how Blair became Bush's adoring sidekick. A friend of mine who lives in England told me that she thinks Blair involved his country in the Iraq war to obtain postwar contracts, and I wonder if this is so. Now thanks to Blair's decision to participate in the Iraq war, Britain is at risk for terrorist attacks. If I were an Englishwoman, I don't think I would support Blair at all.

I used to be a Labour voter but now I pine for the halcyon days of Maggie. Who are these Americans who think he's so great? Try living in the UK for a while and see the almighty mess he and that bunch of 10th rate losers and chancers in his government have made. What was bad up till 1997 has got even worse. Maggie was a hard old bird but even she only went to war once in her 11 years in power. Blair's taken Britain to war 6 times in half the time and at huge cost which we can ill afford. If he's not conceiving half-arsed policies then he's reneging on others. So, you Americans who think he's so great for backing Dubya for atacking Iraq. Do you still think the same, even no WMDs have been found while the country's in a state of violent chaos, possibly heading towards civil war. Further to the above:- You folk who don't live in the UK don't understand what a smug, self satisifed, self-deluded incompetant little t*at he is. He won the 1997 election on socialist policies, except that he's reneged on all of these and is even more right wing than the Tories. Under him, privatisation of public services is proving a disaster with the health service and transport infrastructure approaching meltdown. His government's so called environment policy is a farcical joke. On the one hand they want people to cut back on car use by increasing fuel tax & yet they're pushing for major road building projects and a doubling of airport infrastructure, much of it being built on land with environmental protection. Even though his popularity rating has gone through the floor he's said he won't resign. So much for the joke that is western democracy.

Mr. Blair is our countries' only major supporter at this time. How peole can hate this man is beyond me. People just hate him becuse he likes Bush...

nothing against him. he's fine i agree with all his decisions even if i am not british