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The Age

Remaking Tony Blair

Paola Totaro, London

TONY Blair had just turned 30 when he was elected to the British Parliament. His campaign poster of 1983 shows a face infused with boyish excitement, wavy brown hair and a smile as wide and warm as a spring day.

Labour's youngest MP had his lawyer's salary cut in half to enter the House of Commons. It was the beginning of Margaret Thatcher's triumphant second term and, armed with a 188-seat majority, she was up against a bloodied opposition of tired ideologues and doddery time servers. One of only a handful of hungry, tyro MPs, the rookie Blair found it fertile ground. It took less than a year for him to be catapulted onto the frontbench. At 44, he would become PM, the youngest since 1812. Click here for more.