Since 1997, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have formed the longest unbroken partnership of Prime Minister and Chancellor in modern British political history. Despite their partnership being inharmonious and even bitter at times, their record in Government is a joint achievement; the years 1997-2007 are truly the Blair/Brown years.
In the month, that marks their 10 years in government, and is most likely to signal the end of their partnership, the Liberal Democrats published ‘The State They’ve Put Us In’, a dossier setting out much of what has gone wrong under Labour in specific areas, such as health, education, crime and the environment. It is by no means exhaustive, but it illustrates just how much Blair and Brown have failed to achieve – and in many areas how things have gone backwards.
Against the backdrop of 18 years of Conservative rule from 1979-1997, things have got better, a little better – but nowhere near as much as promised, and nowhere near as much as needed. 4 out of 10 for Blair and Brown would be a fair assessment. First the good news.
For their first four years in Government, a much needed new broom began to sweep through the corridors of Whitehall. The Bank of England was made independent bringing stability for the economy. A Foreign Policy with an ethical dimension was announced. A historic modernisation of our political system began with the creation of a Scottish Parliament and a Welsh Assembly beginning the much needed process of bringing power in Britain closer to the people it serves and the right of hereditary peers to sit in the upper house mostly abolished. After initially sticking to Tory spending limits, investment in Britain’s dilapidated public services started. The fruits of that investment can now be seen. In the NHS more staff, reduced waiting lists, better care in some areas such a cancer. In Education a schools building programme, better paid teachers, more books, and better equipment. All these were supported by and voted for by the Liberal Democrats, indeed it reflected much of what we set out in our 1997 manifesto ‘Make the Difference’. Crucially we were the first party to campaign for independence for the Bank of England. Brown was utterly silent on this – until his first week in office, when he just went ahead and did it.
So why only 4 out of 10?
Winner – 
On Thursday night Ming Campbell made what can only be described as his most recent appearance on 
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