New Labour

This article is part of a series about Tony Blair
Electoral history MP for Sedgefield Beaconsfield by-election Leader of the Opposition Leadership election Brown Deal Shadow Cabinet Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Premiership Policies New Labour, New Life for Britain Blairism New Labour Third Way Appointments "Tony's Cronies" "Blair Babes" First ministry and term (May 1997 – June 2001) Ministry 1997 election Chancellorship of Gordon Brown 1997 budget 1998 budget 1999 budget 2000 budget 2001 budget Good Friday Agreement peace process Handover of Hong Kong People's princess Kosovo War Military intervention in Sierra Leone Second ministry and term (June 2001 – May 2005) Ministry 2001 re-election 9/11 War on terror War in Afghanistan 2003 invasion of Iraq Iraq and weapons of mass destruction Saddam–al-Qaeda conspiracy theory Bush memo Downing Street memo February Dossier September Dossier Ultimatum to Iraq Iraq War 2002 budget 2003 budget 2004 budget 2005 budget Third ministry and term (May 2005 – June 2007) Ministry 2005 re-election Cabinet reshuffle 2006 budget 2007 budget Cash for Honours London bombings Respect agenda Leadership succession Post–Prime Minister 2007 Sedgefield by-election Quartet on the Middle East A Journey (autobiography) Associates Faith Foundation Iraq Inquiry Sports Foundation Institute for Global Change
v t e

This article is part of a series about Gordon Brown
Electoral history MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath Shadow Chancellor Blair–Brown deal Chancellor of the Exchequer Chancellorship 1997 budget Winter Fuel Payment Five economic tests Financial Services Authority 10p tax rate Sale of UK gold reserves, 1999–2002 Policies Brownism New Labour Third Way Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Premiership 2007 leadership election Ministry Treaty of Lisbon 2007–2008 financial crisis Bank rescue packages 2008 2009 Climate Change Act 2008 2009 European elections 2010 general election Post–Prime Minister 2014 Scottish independence referendum Bibliography Courage: Eight Portraits Britain's Everyday Heroes The Change We Choose Beyond the Crash My Life, Our Times
v t e

New Labour is the political philosophy that dominated the history of the British Labour Party from the mid-late 1990s to 2010 under the leadership of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. The term originated in a conference slogan first used by the party in 1994, later seen in a draft manifesto which was published in 1996 and titled New Labour, New Life for Britain. It was presented as the brand of a newly reformed party that had altered the old Clause IV (which stressed nationalisation) and instead endorsed market economics. The branding was extensively used while the party was in government between 1997 and 2010. New Labour was influenced by the political thinking of Anthony Crosland and the leadership of Blair and Brown as well as Peter Mandelson and Alastair Campbell's media campaigning. The political philosophy of New Labour was influenced by the party's development of Anthony Giddens' Third Way which attempted to provide a synthesis between capitalism and socialism. The party emphasised the importance of social justice, rather than equality, emphasising the need for equal opportunity and believed in the use of markets to deliver economic efficiency and social justice.

The New Labour brand was developed to regain trust from the electorate and to portray a departure from the party's traditional socialist policies, thereby communicating the party's modernisation to the public. However, it was criticised for its breaking of election promises and of loosening its links to the trade unions. Calls for modernisation had become prominent following Labour's heavy defeat in the 1983 general election, with the new Labour leader, Neil Kinnock, who came from the party's soft left Tribune Group of Labour MPs, calling for a review of policies that led to the party's defeat, and for improvements to the party's public image to be made by Peter Mandelson, a former television producer. Following the leaderships of Neil Kinnock and John Smith, the party under Tony Blair attempted to widen its electoral appeal under the New Labour tagline and by the 1997 general election it had made significant gains in the middle class; resulting in a landslide victory. Labour maintained this wider support at the 2001 general election and won a third consecutive victory in the 2005 general election for the first time ever in the history of the Labour Party. However, the party's majority was significantly reduced from four years earlier.

In 2007, Blair resigned from the party leadership after thirteen years and was succeeded by his Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown. Labour lost the 2010 general election which resulted in the first hung parliament in thirty-six years and led to the creation of a Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition government. Brown resigned as Prime Minister and as Labour Party leader shortly thereafter. He was succeeded as party leader by Ed Miliband, who abandoned the New Labour branding and moved the party's political stance further to the left under the branding One Nation Labour. Jeremy Corbyn moved the party further to the left, while Keir Starmer has repositioned it back to the centre and won the 2024 general election; Starmer's leadership of the party has been widely compared to that of Blair, and he is regarded as having taken the party back to the centre-ground, in a similar way to that achieved by New Labour.