UK politics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

UK politics - Essay Example This is the reason why UK’s government from 1997-2010 has been dubbed as the â€Å"Labour Government.† British prime ministers serve the British people for not more than five years (Magstadt, 2008). This means that after five years, another prime minister will be chosen unless the current leader can maintain the parliament’s â€Å"vote of confidence† (Magstadt, 2008). Blair’s political career is a perfect example for this political situation. After he served the British people for five years, he was again elected for another term. Blair was reelected by the British parliament in 2001 (Childs, 2008). It was another victory for the Labour Party after Blair’s landslide election in 1997 (Childs, 2008). The Third Way The â€Å"Third Way† is actually an ideology (Walraven & Persons, 2000). It is often associated with the Labour Party. This political idea was actually introduced by Tony Blair (Holmes, 2009). He has utilized this ideology when he ran for public office in 1997 to be UK’s prime minister. He described his platform of governance as the â€Å"Third Way†. This description seemingly suggests a different way of imposing policies in United Kingdom. Blair was actually aiming for ideological change. He wanted to change the political landscape of British government. He neither favored the first and second way of leading Britain. The first way refers to Margaret Thatcher’s leadership while the second way pertains to John Major’s administration. It was Blair’s vision to implement a new policy. The â€Å"Third Way† or the so called â€Å"New Labour† is the way to adopt this modern course of action (Kramp, 2010). Blair called this policy as â€Å"neither the old left nor the new right† (Leach, 2009 cited in Kramp, 2010, p.4). In other words, the â€Å"Third Way† proposes changes which do not adopt to the old party’s agenda (Kramp, 2010). It establishe s a new and independent policy. It tries to separate itself from Thatcher and Major’s conservative governments (Kramp, 2010). Stated in another sense, the â€Å"Third Way† is a whole new political ideology. According to Kramp (2010), it is a hybrid. Anthony Giddens, the author of the â€Å"Third Way† ideology declared that all he wanted to make is a framework of a collaborated or integrated political programme which will cover each of the significant parts of society (Giddens, 1998). This means that Giddens aims for equality among the British citizens in terms of public services. He wanted to create a point of convergence between the left and right ideologies. In doing such, he made sure that none of the political terms will be in conflict. He formulated the â€Å"New Labour† in a way that it does not favor any of the old ideologies neither the new ideologies. Giddens actually integrated the key concepts of the two principles. In other words, the â€Å"T hird Way† is a neutral political ideology. As cited by Giddens, the ultimate objective of the â€Å"Third Way† must be to assist the people â€Å"pilot their way through the major revolutions of our time: globalization, transformations in personal life and our relationship to nature† (Giddens, 1998). He further said that it is necessary for social democrats to question cultural and economic protectionism as well as the far right territory which views globalization as destructive to national tradition and integrity (Giddens, 1998)