A significant proportion of Tony Blair’s reforms have been forced upon him by crisis
When reflecting on the Prime Minister’s legal legacy it is instructive to evaluate the psychology and impetus of the man who has brought in more criminal legislation than any government in recent times.
Essential to an understanding of Blair’s approach is to realise how important it was for him to break away from the previous reputation of latter-day Labour governments. Those administrations had become synonymous with the free living, free thinking years of the 1960s. The consequent Conservative governments realised that the electorate liked their law tough.
So it was “tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime” that announced New Labour’s entry into Downing Street. It was rhetoric that got them elected, never again could Labour be seen to be soft.
Terrorism
Perhaps the whole of New Labour’s attitude to criminal law making can be encapsulated in its approach to the perceived terrorist threat.
The mantra “education, education, education” would be replaced with “legislation, legislation, legislation” as New Labour embarked on a seven-year itch of instinctive law making,
