Last week many of you posed questions about why British Prime Minister Tony Blair has been replaced as head of Parlaiment by PM Gordon Brown. Here's your chance to find out and learn more about the legislative process in the United Kingdom.
Directions:
1. Read:
A) “Tony Blair to Resign in a Year”ABC Newshttp://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=2405434&page=1
AND
One of the following articles and explore one of it’s hyperlinked sources (may be text, video, image or audio files)
B) Blair “My political journey is over” 5/10/07CNN News
OR
C) “British Prime Minister Announces His Resignation”MTV Newshttp://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1559212/20070510/index.jhtml
2. Summarize the articles, emphasizing the primary reasons UK Prime Minister Tony Blair voluntarily resigned in 2007s. Explain what these sources tell you about the role of the Prime Minister, his/her relationship with the Parliament and the role of political parties in the UK Parliament.
3. Answer one or more of the following questions:
- How does Blair’s resignation compare to the US Presidential resignations we’ve learned about in class (Nixon, Clinton and Jackson)?
- What does this say about the differences in the governments of the United Kingdom and the United States?
- Based on your knowledge and the articles, why did MP's and Britons believe Brown's policies would better serve the interests of the UK?
Your post must be a minimum of 250 words.
Be sure to comment or question a peer's response.
7 comments:
Cherricka
Tony Blair To Resign in a Year:
This article was mainly about Tony Blair leaving office within a year. Members of the cabinet does not seem to have a problem with this at all. In fact, they want to know the time and date of his resignation. Many believe that Blair is President Bush’s “lap dog”. Blair seems to be apart of the war in Iraq, and by announcing his resignation shows he may have something to hide. Blair is being supported by President Bush, so there is a lot of criticisms towards him. I noticed that many members of parliament resigned before Blair did. This shows that the parliament and the Prime minister bump heads often, in the UK. When they don’t agree with one another they criticize each other and then resign.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair Announces His Resignation:
This article discusses Blair’s resignation, as well. Blair has been Prime minister for over 10 years and he said he is finally finished. Many do not agree with him, but they can not say he didn’t want a change. He helped out the UK’s economic crisis, which made his plans victorious. Blair may had President Bush on his side, but he still helped out a lot good and bad.
Tony Blair’s resignation is very similar to the ones we learned about in class. Normally, there is a scandal that makes the leader want to resign. The same thing occurred with Tony Blair. He was apart of some scandals, and supported by President Bush and the Iraq war. With a record like this there is no way Blair could stay Prime Minister.
The similar comparisons with the US and the UK shows there is not really a difference in our governments. If Blair did not resign he would probably be voted out of office. Same in the US. It is best that when a scandal occur, that person is most likely going to resign depending on the critics.
In the first article, Tony Blair to Resign in a Year, it seems that the majority of the English government was entirely against the man; what he represented for himself and the country of England. Blair seemed to have a well gained acquaintance with President Bush of the United States and this agitated the press. With all of his respect towards America’s president the media called him the “lapdog of America” symbolizing that they believe he is doing whatever the U.S.A. asks. This brings up another point, which is that Blair has become enrolled in the War on Terrorism due to the United States. However, British Labor politician James Gordon Brown says he will support Blair in whichever decision he makes. Also Brown pledged to take over after Blair. In the article “British Prime Minister Tony Blair Announces Resignation” the quote said by himself “I've been prime minister of this country for just over 10 years, I think that's long enough, not only for me, but also for the country and sometimes the only way you conquer the pull of power is to set it down" truly represents that even in his mind he has been the prime minister for too long. With all the criticism that had gone around about the man as well as the decade in which he was register as the prime minister of England, this altogether must have caused him to quit. In my opinion Blair’s resignation is similar to former United States presidents; while Tony did support the War on Terrorism in Iraq, he was found to be a part of some scandals which relates to President Clinton.
Ian Murphy
Government
Block G
The article "Tony Blair to Resign in a Year" on the ABC News website, as the title understandably suggests, discusses British Prime Minister Tony Blair's promised resignation within the year from when the resignation letter was made in September of 2006. This sparked much controversy amongst other major political leaders, namely in exactly when he would step down from office, as he never established a date in his letter. The Labor Party was one of the strongest supporters of the resignation, stating that Blair led them into the Iraq War; a much unwanted interference. Meanwhile, in the "British Prime Minister Tony Blair Announces His Resignation" article on the MTV News website, his resignation is also discussed. It basically sums up the same things as the previous article, except it focuses more on the people's reaction; they too felt that Blair needed to step down, as he didn't make as big of a contribution to change as they felt needed. Comparing Blair's resignation to those of some of our own past leaders, it is not all that different. He was involved in conflicts that were best to be left untouched by his influence, namely the Iraq War. He was also a supporter of the U.S.'s own former President George W. Bush. In a sense, Blair's decisions as Prime Minister boardered on scandal.
Last week I herd alot of bad mouth about former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair . However from reading “British Prime Minister Announces His Resignation” by Gil Kaufman, I do not know why. The article basically describes a nation hating a man who made a remarkable change in the country but is being rejected due to one mistake. Great Britian obviously is not a fan of the war in Iraq or of Bush, for the matter. With that said there anger grew even more when Blair placed British soldiers in the Iraq war, killing 150 of them. Many describe this as a scandal under the Bush administration. I may not agree with this Blair action but what about all the goodness he had done for Britian. Did he not stop all the bloodshed in Northern Ireland that lasted almost a decade? Did he not help grow and develope Britian's one of a kind economy? I think he did and now the people want to deprive him of all of his credits for making one mistake.
Blair helped furnish G.B as well as other parts of Europe. As a P.M he cared for the future of Britians and tryed to proritize them first. I truely belive his best intrest was for G.B. The Parliament should have acknolodged all of Blair's efforts and support him. Instead they opposed them and supported his resignation.
Blair's resignation differs from past presidents who have also resigned. In the U.S the president is usually charged with a crime. In U.K, Blair was just pressured into resigning from the rebellions in the Labour Party. He was never charged with anything. The U.S proccess of resignation is more formal that the U.K . In the U.K it seems whatever the people want they get.
Blair's lack of support from his Labour Party reminds me of MCain's lack of support from the Republican Party. Political Parties these days.lol.
... As for Brown the people / government supported amyone who did not support the Iraq war and was from the Labour Party ; therefore, the people love him. Also, like Omar said, Brown had pledged long ago to take after Brown.
Khadijat O:).
The article “Tony Blair To Resign in a Year” discussed Tony Blair’s dismissal from office and feelings the cabinet members expressed upon his departure. After taking office, many believed that respect Tony Blair had for the US was anti-nationalism. This article proved that the majority of the English government completely resented Blair and what he represented as the country of England. Agitating the government as well as the press, Tony Blair seemed to have too much of a political bond with President Bush giving him the title “lap dog of America,” basically calling him Bush’s doormat. Blair had also become involved in the War on Terrorism alongside the United States. British politician James Gordon Brown says he will support Blair in any choices he makes. Brown has also obliged to take over after office after Blair‘s resignation. In the article, “British Prime Minister Tony Blair Announces Resignation” Tony Blair said, “I've been prime minister of this country for just over 10 years, I think that's long enough, not only for me, but also for the country and sometimes the only way you conquer the pull of power is to set it down," The pressures of the press, the people, and the criticism he’s received for about a decade has pushed Tony Blair to resignation. In agreement with Omar, I believe that Blair relates much to former President Bill Clinton where his support for the War on Terrorism in Iraq was in correlation with quite a few scandals.
Ann Morin Youssef
G Block
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair announced his resignation a year before it happened. Blair's statement followed several days of increasing controversy in which several politicians from Britain's political parties called on Blair to set a date for his anticipated departure. The prime minister has faced increasing criticism in the United Kingdom, much of it stemming from his support of President Bush. The press called him "America's lapdog", as he caught speaking to Bush informally. The Labor Party has voiced strong disapproval for Blair, saying he led the country into the Iraq War. Nine members of government, including four ministers from Blair's party, resigned in the run-up to the Iraq War, citing their opposition to Britain's involvement. With his support at home terribly eroded by much controversy, Tony Blair, on May 10, formally stepped down from his post on June 27, a decade after triumphantly leading his Labour party back into power. However, the "power vacuum" left behind by Blair's resignation has led to a scramble for the Labour leadership, with vocal critic finance minister Gordon Brown, who was Blair's close partner in helping bring Labour back to power, favored to take over. "I've been prime minister of this country for just over 10 years," Blair told party members Thursday, according to Reuters. "I think that's long enough, not only for me, but also for the country and sometimes the only way you conquer the pull of power is to set it down."
Both of the article I read, "Tony Blair to Resign in a Year" by ABC news and "British Prime Minister Announces His Resignation" by MTV News explained the reasons behind Tony Blairs resignation from the Prime Minister position.
Tiny Blair became prime minister around the same time as the death of Princess Diana. His reaction and actions toward the sad incident caused him to be loved by the people. A few years later he was one of the world world leaders who showed support to George Bush in the War In Iraq. Because many of the people in Britain, both members of parliament and ordinary citizens, did not support the way Blair began to lose support. After the death of many british soldiers, everything went downhill for Tony Blair. After some time passed and people increasingly disagreed with him, and some other members of his party stepped down, Blair realized it was time for him to resign.
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