ANALYSE THE TRANSITION FROM 'OLD LABOUR' TO 'NEW LABOUR'.
             Tony Blair has been credited with the emergence of 'New Labour' from 'Old Labour' when he was elected party leader in 1994 after the unexpected death of John Smith. Blair was determined to improve the image of the Labour party, and remove its associations with aged rigidity, and transform Labour into a 'young, modern party of the future for all voters'.
             Although Blair has been credited for this transformation his reforms were simply a continuation of the small changes that were made under Neil Kinnock and John Smith's leadership. Who had both begun to radically alter the shape and structure of the party. The main reason for the changes implemented by Blair was that the party members realised that if Labour were to win the 1997 general election then drastic changes needed to take place. When Blair came into leadership the Conservatives were in a weak position with a weak leader in John Major, a huge change from Thatcher's strong leadership of the 80's. Blair manipulated this and portrayed Labour as the better option.
             1996 saw the 'New Labour, new life for Britain' guidelines introduced, setting out the necessary changes that were to be made to the Labour party in order for them to become competent leaders. The shift of Labour from a socialist party to one of no real ideology, known as the 'Third Way', was becoming apparent.
             The election of Blair as party leader was done in the hope that he would bring an image of youth and new revolutionary ideas within Labour. His main 'revolutionary' change was to attempt to rid the Tax and Spend' tag bestowed upon the party, which was a major contributory factor to why Labour failed to win an election under Neil Kinnock.
             The most publicised change Blair made was in 1995, the rewriting of Clause Four of the Labour party&a...