may 14, 1997 - 2 May 1997: Tony Blair becomes UK Prime Minister
Description:
Bell and Maurice Saatchi both work as advisors on John Major's Conservative campaign, running a campaign of "New Labour, new danger". But the Tories were "destined to lose", said Bell. Gone were the days of Thatcherite vision: "No one understood what we stood for."
Blair, on the other hand, "felt more like a media star than a typical politician", largely ditching the traditional left to instead court business, the intelligentsia -- and, crucially, the Murdoch papers. Bell described Blair as "young in spirit, ambitious, breathtakingly self-confident", a man who "would do anything to make his image palatable to people".
His campaign was run by Alastair Campbell, a former tabloid journalist on the left-leaning Mirror.
"Starting with Blair, all party leaders put as their priority the need to say things that pleased people," said Bell.
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Bell
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