Blair Shadow Cabinet | |
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 Shadow Cabinet of the United Kingdom | |
| 1994 – 1997 | |
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| Date formed | 21 July 1994 |
| Date dissolved | 2 May 1997 |
| People and organisations | |
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Leader of the Opposition | Tony Blair |
| Deputy Leader of the Opposition | John Prescott |
| Member party | |
| Status in legislature | Official Opposition 271 / 651 (42%) |
| History | |
| Election | 1994 Labour Party leadership election |
| Outgoing election | 1997 United Kingdom general election |
| Legislature terms | 51st UK Parliament |
| Predecessor | Shadow Cabinet of Margaret Beckett |
| Successor | Shadow Cabinet of John Major |
Tony Blair was Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from his election as Leader on 21 July 1994 until he became Prime Minister on 2 May 1997. Blair became leader upon the death of John Smith.
Blair had three Shadow Cabinets during his tenure as opposition leader. Following his election as leader on 21 July 1994, Blair formed an interim shadow cabinet which remained largely the same as the shadow cabinet of his predecessor John Smith. On 20 October 1994, following the 1994 Shadow Cabinet elections, Blair announced his second Shadow Cabinet. Blair made a number of significant changes to the Shadow Cabinet on 19 October 1995, following the 1995 Shadow Cabinet elections. Small changes were made to the Shadow Cabinet at the 1996 Shadow Cabinet elections.
Blair's tenure as leader began with a historic rebranding of the party, who began to use the campaign label New Labour to distance itself from previous Labour politics and the traditional idea of socialism. Despite opposition from Labour's left-wing, he abolished Clause IV, the party's formal commitment to the nationalisation of the economy, weakened trade union influence in the party, and committed to the free market and the European Union.
Blair inherited the Labour leadership at a time when the party was ascendant over the Conservatives in the opinion polls, since the Conservative government's reputation in monetary policy declined as a result of the Black Wednesday economic disaster of September 1992. Blair's election as leader saw Labour support surge higher still in spite of the continuing economic recovery and fall in unemployment that the Conservative government led by John Major had overseen since the end of the 1990–92 recession.
At the 1996 Labour Party Conference, Blair stated that his three top priorities on coming to office were "education, education, and education". In 1996, the manifesto New Labour, New Life for Britain was published, which set out the party's new "Third Way" centrist approach to policy, and was presented as the brand of a newly reformed party that had altered Clause IV and endorsed market economics. In May 1995, Labour had achieved considerable success in the local and European elections, and had won four by-elections. For Blair, these achievements were a source of optimism, as they indicated that the Conservatives were in decline. Virtually every opinion poll since late-1992 put Labour ahead of the Conservatives with enough support to form an overall majority.
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Leader of the Opposition
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Policies
Appointments
First ministry and term (May 1997 – June 2001)
Second ministry and term (June 2001 – May 2005)
Third ministry and term (May 2005 – June 2007)
Post–Prime Minister
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