Tony Blair was leader of the Labour Party.
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair ( born 6 May 1953 ) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007 . He was elected Labour Party leader in July 1994 , following the sudden death of his predecessor , John Smith , who together with his predecessor , Neil Kinnock , had started to move the party closer to the political centre , in the hope of winning power . In May 1997 , the Labour Party won a landslide general election victory , the largest in its history , allowing Blair , at 43 years old , to become the youngest Prime Minister since 1812 . The Labour Party went on to win two more elections under his leadership : in 2001 , in which it won another landslide victory , and in 2005 , with a reduced majority . Blair was succeeded as the leader of the Labour Party and as Prime Minister by Gordon Brown in June 2007 .