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The era of new Labour 1997-2007 - Coggle Diagram
The era of new Labour 1997-2007
Foreign affairs
Attitudes to Europe
Blair played an active role in absorbing Eastern European states into the EU, Blair was very well respected as a good European by counterparts such as the German Prime Minister, Blair played a more positive role in Europe such as opting into the social chapter, which enabled workers rights, he played a leading role in the Treaty of Nice (absorbing eastern European states). Blair was determined to make a bridge between Europe and the US especially over Iraq.
However, there were still some tensions over Europe in the party. for example the expansion of the EU meant that there was more pressure for a new constitution and this concerned Eurosceptics as they felt the UK would have less sovereignty. progress on issues like climate change was slow and Blair failed to persuade most eu countries to support EU S led invasion of Iraq. there was tensions over the euro as Blair wanted to join for political reasons but brown did not want to because of economic reasons
Many people wanted the New Labour to transform Britain's role within the Eu. Blad already called for Britain to develop a new more positive relationship with its European partners for example opting back into the European social chapter. During blast time as Prime Minister he allowed Britain to take a leading role in negotiating for the EU's enlargement and in the discussions about the Treaty of Nice of 2001. Players also enthusiastic about the possibility of Britain joining the European currency but Gordon Brown was not keen answer the phone number of economic conditions that had to be met before Britain would give up the pound.
Special relationship with the USA
New Labour was keen on maintaining a special relationship with the US. When Blair was elected, Bill Clinton was the president and there was a number of similarities between the two governments.
After the failure of the European Union and the United States to deal with the Yugoslavian crisis in the 1990s. Blair was convinced that it was essential to keep the United States involved in European affairs and to make full use of NATO to defend the new world order that existed. He believed that it was important to maintain Britain’s special relationship with EU’s and that Britain had a key role in bringing closer together USA and European policy.
When George W. Bush became president glad developed a close relationship especially with regard to meeting the threat of global terrorism however this led to accusations that Britain for a policy had become too dominated by US priorities during Blair's premiership.
many people also believed that Blair was Americas poodle as he blindly followed America and supported them even though he didn't have his country support for example the war in Iraq.
Military intervention and war on terror
Liberal interventionism
The Blair doctrine was a speech made in Chicago and it was stated that countries like Britain should intervene in other countries problems if it meant protecting human rights and preventing massacres and ethnic cleansing (liberal interventionism)
When a war started in Yugoslavia blood devoted the main diplomatic efforts to persuading I reluctant President Clinton to back military action in Serbia and in 1999 and NATO bombing forced Milosevic into pulling his forces out of Kosovo.
in 2001 rebel forces in the civil war in Sierra Leone threatened to takeover the capital the British government sent armed forces. Initially this was to evacuate foreigners but once they arrived British forces supported the UN peacekeepers in securing the capital and helping bring an end to the civil war. this is evidence that the Blair doctrine was working
War on terror
Afghanistan
Afghanistan was a target as the Taliban had allowed al Qaeda to use the country as a base for training and planning terrorist operations. In 2001 Britain joined the United states in military campaign to overthrow the Taliban and expel al Qaeda from Afghanistan. This was supported by NATO and the UN. Initially it was hoped that a new Afghanistan went quickly developed into a modern democratic state but there was no instant pacification of the country and millilitres of that element al Qaeda escaped and a new democratic regime was established but progress was extremely slow.
Iraq
After the first Gulf War Saddam Hussein had been contained by economic sanctions and no fly zones enforced by NATO air patrols. Feel was that Iraq would link up with al Qaeda and provide a new base for terrorism in the way that Afghanistan had. another fear was that Iraq might develop weapons of mass destruction. Blue made efforts to win over his European allies for pushing for a second UN resolution about Iraq but was unsuccessful.
The invasion of Iraq was launched by American troops and was backed by Britain Poland and Italy. bless critics claimed that he knew Bush was going to invade Iraq anyway. Military victory and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein was complete by April 2003 but there was no neat or decisive end to the war. British troops found themselves bogged down in a long struggle.
British involvement in Iraq was extremely controversial. Four ministers including the foreign secretary resigned over the issue. The biggest anti-war march attracted over 1 million people. the failure to find evidence of weapons of mass destruction heightened criticism. In 2003 the British government was being accused of having exaggerated the threat. By the end of 2007 Britain had achieved only limited success in Iraq.
The war had badly damaged Tony Blair's reputation and many believe it led to his resignation as lots believed he was misleading parliament. Along with the four resignations within his cabinet, the wall led to the suicide of DR David Kelly. he was a weapons expert working for the defence ministry and he knew that Iraq did not have WMD's and that Blair had exaggerated the intelligence Dossier to parliament. He told the BBC journalist about his concerns and when it went public, he committed suicide as he couldn't handle the guilt.
The war and terror began after the al Qaeda terrorist attacks in the United states on September 11th also known as 9/11.
Britains position in the world by 2007
New Labour set out a clear foreign policy strategy, these were, making the UK a leading player in Europe, Fostering a peoples diplomacy to increase respect, to supply an ethical content to foreign policy and Making Britain a leading partner in a world community of nations.
By 2007 the war in Iraq was the defining issue of Blair's political career. it was still possible to hope that future developments would eventually lead to a new secure Iraqi state, but the war had cost it so much in lives. Blair’s involvement in Iraq had damaged reputation within his own government.
His idea of liberal interventionism was discredited as it would be much harder for a British government to convince the public of the need for military intervention in the future. some argued that this would ensure Britain could concentrate on defending its own interests and others said that Britain would no longer be able to play such an influential role in world affairs and meaning that Britain's Role in the world would decline.
The special relationship with the US had undoubtedly been strengthened but Britain’s position in Europe remained uncertain. Britain had not joined the euro on its launch and also seemed further away from joining it in 2007. There were deep divisions between the European countries who had opposed intervention. While Britain had played a more major role in foreign affairs some believed that it was obviously dominated by the USA
Social issues
Had Britain become a multicultural society?
Ethnic diversity had been a fact of life in Britain for a long time. but being multicultural was always debated. The rapid expansion of the European Union had opened the way for people from central and Eastern Europe to move to Britain. These migrants came to fill skill shortages. the changing nature of immigration sometimes raised tension, some immigrants were, the families of immigrants were the living in Britain, foreign students at British universities, people from the new state who acceded to the EU in 2004 and 2007.
In some ways there was lots of evidence to say the Brit was multicultural. In 2002 the first black cabinet minister was appointed. Mosques were more common in Town and cities, local government and corporate organisations launched initiatives to celebrate the cultural background of people. many people took pride in the progress made towards a genuine multicultural society.
However, there was still some racial tension the murder of Stephen Lawrence identified problems of ‘institutional racism’ in the Metropolitan Police. some British people felt as if they were being alienated from British culture and society. The London bombings was evidence there was still negative race relations. two weeks after there were four more suicide bombers attempts but the bombs failed. these people were born in Ethiopia and Somalia but were British citizens and they attacked caused people to second guess security issues about immigrants. Lots of people believed that the reason behind these terrorist attacks were that the war in Iraq had alienated British Muslims. in 2006 the post of ‘Secretary of State for local government and communities’ was set up to prevent extremism.
In 2006 the labour government passed the controversial national identity card act arguing that identity cards when needed to fight terrorism. The terrorist act of 2006 increase the time that the suspect could be held without charge. The terrorist incidents highlighted broader concerns about multicultural Britain. in the 2001 election opinion polls found that immigration was regarded as a vital issue by only 3% of voters.
Most economists argue that the nation benefited economically from migrants factor that most migrants were young active and healthy so they did not have to make heavy demands on the public services and often actually worked in them.
Workers, Women and Youth
Youth
There was an aim to end social exclusion which led to the establishment of Sure Start centres. These helped families with children by providing guidance and ensuring that preschool children were supported to be ready for school. In addition Blair in 1999, pledged to end child poverty.
Women
The number of elected MPs rose. Doubled. Labour had an all-women shortlists to half of it's 'winnable seats'. Blair also appointed many women to prominent positions in his cabinet.
Women were often beneficiaries of 'New Labour's' policy such as the childcare provision which gave to 3-4 year olds 12.5 hours a week of free nursery eduction.
Workers
When labour was elected the workers thought that connection with the trade unions would improve but the decline in trade unions continued. New labour did not repeal the trade union legislation passed by the cons government.
Some trade unions were critical of the labour government for continuing to pursue policies such as PFI.
However the government did opt back into the European Social Chapter. This meant that Britain would now follow European policies regarding employment and social rights.
Labour extended privatisations. they privatised the London underground and The Air Traffic Control organisations was sold off.
The minimum wage was introduced and there was a commission set up to oversee it.
Prime ministers
Tony Blair 1997-2007