# New Labour, New Life for Britain

* This article is part of a series aboutTony Blair
Electoral history
MP for Sedgefield
Beaconsfield by-election
Leader of the Opposition
Leadership election
Brown Deal
Shadow Cabinet
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Premiership
Policies
New Labour, New Life for Britain
Blairism
New Labour
Third Way
Appointments
"Tony's Cronies"
"Blair Babes"
First ministry and term (May 1997 – June 2001)
Ministry
1997 election
Chancellorship of Gordon Brown
1997 budget
1998 budget
1999 budget
2000 budget
2001 budget
Good Friday Agreement
peace process
Handover of Hong Kong
People's princess
Kosovo War
Military intervention in Sierra Leone
Second ministry and term (June 2001 – May 2005)
Ministry
2001 re-election
9/11
War on terror
War in Afghanistan
2003 invasion of Iraq
Iraq and weapons of mass destruction
Saddam–al-Qaeda conspiracy theory
Bush memo
Downing Street memo
February Dossier
September Dossier
Ultimatum to Iraq
Iraq War
2002 budget
2003 budget
2004 budget
2005 budget
Third ministry and term (May 2005 – June 2007)
Ministry
2005 re-election
Cabinet reshuffle
2006 budget
2007 budget
Cash for Honours
London bombings
Respect agenda
Leadership succession
Post–Prime Minister
2007 Sedgefield by-election
Quartet on the Middle East
A Journey (autobiography)
Associates
Faith Foundation
Iraq Inquiry
Sports Foundation
Institute for Global Change :
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New Labour, New Life for Britain was a political manifesto published in 1996 by the British Labour Party. The party had recently rebranded itself as New Labour under the leadership of Tony Blair. The manifesto set out the party's new "Third Way" centrist approach to policy, with subsequent success at the 1997 general election.
The 1997 general election produced the biggest Labour majority, in seat terms, in the history of the party's existence. They won majority government with 418 out of 659 seats in the House of Commons, with a majority of 179, and Blair became the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. During its time in office, Labour introduced policies that achieved the main aims of the manifesto including introducing a minimum wage, increasing National Health Service (NHS) spending, and reducing class sizes in schools.
The Conservatives left government after about eighteen years, following victories in 1979, 1983, 1987, and 1992; the first three under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher and the last under John Major. In 1997, they suffered their worst defeat since 1906, losing 178 seats, including the unseating of seven Conservative Cabinet Ministers and the loss of all their representation in Wales and Scotland. With 165 seats, the Tories became the Official Opposition. This election began a Labour government following an 18-year spell in opposition and continued with another landslide victory in 2001 and a third consecutive victory in 2005, despite losing a great deal of popular support. In 2010, with Blair having retired as prime minister, in which capacity Gordon Brown succeeded him, Labour became the official opposition with 258 seats, having fallen to 29% in the popular vote.
Following the general election defeat of 2010, Brown resigned as leader of the Labour Party. His successor, Ed Miliband, completely abandoned the New Labour branding in 2010 after being elected, moving the party's political stance slightly to the left.

## Pledge card

During the 1997 general election campaign, a pledge card with five specific pledges was issued and detailed in the manifesto too.