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In the coming year Blair will undoubtedly be involved in more confrontations when Labour attempts further reform of the welfare and state-pension systems. Says Anthony Giddens, head of the London School of Economics and one of Blair's intellectual gurus: "It is a measure of the success of his program that he has alienated some people of the old left. We have to accept the idea that there are too many people on [welfare] benefits and who are not involved in the labor force." Blair will offer those people training and a job, but he is prepared to cut their benefits if they do not cooperate with his program to improve their lot.
The lack of effective opposition from the Tories and the skill of a corps of loyal Labour spin doctors salted around the government have allowed Blair to get away with blunders and embarrassments. Just before a European Union vote to ban cigarette advertising in sports, Blair agreed to a personal and private Downing Street meeting with Bernie Ecclestone, major domo of grand-prix motor racing and, as it was later revealed, donor of $1.6 million to the Labour-campaign war chest. News of the meeting and the contribution leaked out after Britain backed a delay on the ban for grand-prix cars. The furor was intense. Labour returned Ecclestone's money. Blair subjected himself to a television interview to apologize for the inconsistencies in his stories and promised legislation to regulate campaign contributions--and poof!, the controversy died. It would never have happened in Washington, but London is not on the Potomac and Blair is not Clinton.
Indeed, there are few politicians precisely like Blair these days, although it is not for lack of trying. "Blair, not Clinton," writes Paul Johnson, the curmudgeonly historian who once lauded Thatcher's conservative policies, "has become the world's most imitated politician." In Germany, Gerhard Schroder, the Social Democrat who will face Kohl in the election in September, has taken to sounding a bit like Blair when launching into discourses on modern socialism. Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok, whose Labour Party improved its position in an election last week, is also something of a Blair sound-alike. And the Blairites are quick to point out other centrist politicians in Australia, New Zealand, Italy and Portugal.
While Blair may have become something of a political phenomenon in Europe, his politics continue to defy definition and cause confusion. In March, when, in fluent French, Blair became the first British Prime Minister ever to address the National Assembly in Paris, he was greeted by applause from the right of the chamber when he praised business deregulation and flexible labor laws. The left side remained silent until he called for a campaign against "social exclusion," then it broke into cheers. Winning applause from both sides, Blair later said in what could be the most coherent statement of his ideology, "is good politics." French commentators called it le Blairisme, and Blair's spinmeisters call it the "third way." Whatever it's called, it works, and British voters love it. That keeps Tony Blair smiling.
--With reporting by Jay Branegan/Washington and Helen Gibson/London