Tony Blair

Was Tony Blair a visionary, impatiently looking ahead, or a leader trapped by his past: Labour's vote-losing 1980s and the dominance of Margaret Thatcher? Was the party's move to the right under Blair necessary in order for them to win, or could they, after 18 years of Tory rule, have afforded to be more daring, more left-wing, than their leader wished to recognise?

In Steve Richards' short, provocative and highly engaging new biography, he argues that Blair was often the opposite of what we remember him being; perceived as a 'moderniser,' he sought to strengthen the traditional institutions that partly define the UK, from the monarchy to the military; while to Margaret Thatcher's public appreciation he partly cemented her economic legacy rather than move on from it. And, while he was viewed as messianic over Iraq, he was in fact being characteristically expedient, clinging to the orthodoxy in which the UK stands shoulder to shoulder with the US in war.

But the UK in 2007 was undoubtedly a different country to the one it had been in 1997 - from devolution, which played its part in establishing peace in Northern Ireland, to civil partnerships and a revived NHS, Blair left Britain in a better place than it had been. While his legacy has been overshadowed by the Iraq war, Tony Blair re-establishes a more rounded view of his time in office, and shows that the challenges facing Blair were the ones that still face Labour today.