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Blair's key moments in office
08/09/2006 15:21 - (SA)
London - Here is a look at key moments in Tony Blair's nine years as prime minister:
May 1, 1997: Blair's Labour Party wins 419 of 659 seats in House of Commons, ending 18 years of Conservative rule.
April 10, 1998: Blair and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern sign Good Friday peace pact for Northern Ireland.
March 1999: Britain joins Nato bombing of Kosovo, later sending thousands of peacekeeping troops.
June 7, 2001: Labour wins second landslide victory with 412 of 659 seats, but on record low turnout of 59%.
November 2001: US and British troops attack Afghanistan to overthrow Taliban regime and weaken al-Qaeda network after the September 11 attacks.
April 2002: Blair visits US President George W Bush at his Texas ranch, discusses possible action against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
March 18, 2003: After months of intense debate, Commons votes to send 45 000 troops to Iraq as part of the US-led invasion.
July 18, 2003: David Kelly, a government weapons scientist who had expressed doubts to journalists about intelligence indicating Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, found dead in woods near his home, an apparent suicide. Blair announces judicial inquiry by Lord Hutton.
October 19, 2003: Blair, 50, hospitalised for an irregular heartbeat.
May 5, 2005: Blair claims record third successive election win with 324 of 646 newly redrawn Commons seats. Labour's majority cut from 167 to 66.
July 7, 2005: Four bombs explode on subway cars and a bus in London's morning rush hour, killing 52 commuters and four British Muslim bombers. A shaken Blair breaks away from hosting a G8 summit.
November 9, 2005: Parliamentarians hand Blair his first defeat in a Commons vote, rejecting anti-terror laws that would allow police to hold terror suspects for up to 90 days without charge.
March 15: Blair's authority is undermined as he relies on opposition Conservative votes to push through major education reforms, a key plank of his legislative agenda.
May 4: Labour suffers crushing defeat in municipal elections in England, losing 317 seats and 18 town halls. Blair demotes foreign secretary Jack Straw in a major cabinet reshuffle.
September 6: A junior defence minister quits his post and seven lawmakers resign unpaid posts as ministerial aides after signing a letter to Blair seeking his resignation. A newspaper, The Sun, reports Blair intends to resign as Labour leader May 31, 2007, and leave office on July 26, 2007.
September 7: Visiting a London school, Blair says Labour's 2006 party conference will be his last, which means he will leave office before September 2007, but declines to specify a date.
September 7: Blair says in a televised statement that he would quit within a year, but refused to give an exact date: "I'm not going to set a precise date now, I don't think that's right. I will do that at a future date and I'll do it in the interests of the country."
- AP
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