The New Leader

The first programme examines how Tony Blair came to power on a huge wave of public goodwill, as the Tories were swept out of office on a tide of sleaze and incompetence. With a blazing sense of mission, the new prime minister promised his government would be whiter than white, and that he would transform Britain and make the world a better place. Those who have been closest to Blair reveal in the programme how he responded to the many challenges and crises that face a modern prime minister, and how his early years in office taught him a number of painful lessons about the gap between spin and substance.