Tony Blair

Blair won the Labour leadership in 1994 after John Smith's death, rebranded the party as "New Labour", and became the youngest prime minister of the 20th century when Labour took 418 seats in 1997, ending 18 years out of power. His first term brought constitutional reforms, devolution in Scotland and Wales, a minimum wage, the Good Friday Agreement, and interventions in Kosovo and Sierra Leone. After 9/11, he backed the 2003 invasion of Iraq on false beliefs about weapons of mass destruction and al-Qaeda ties; 139 of his own MPs voted against it. As casualties mounted, his popularity collapsed…