麻豆社

Things can only get better was blasting around the victory party at the Royal Festival Hall. Defence Secretary, Michael Portillo, had fallen; Tory stronghold, Edgbaston, had gone red. As the sun rose on 2nd May 1997, the man about to become Prime Minister announced, 鈥淎 new dawn has broken. Isn鈥檛 it wonderful?鈥� For Tony Blair, the long years of opposition were over.

But almost immediately the euphoria of a landslide victory was followed by the sobriety of government. 鈥漌e ran for office as New Labour, we will govern as New Labour,鈥� promised Tony Blair. The crucial first 100 days of government had begun.

Kirsty Wark reunites the team who were determined to make those early days count.

The new Chancellor of the Exchequer was making a revolutionary move to independent interest rates at the Bank of England. Gordon Brown's political secretary Sue Nye was one of the handful of people privy to the secret and remembers the shock waves the early announcement made.

There was the famous photo of 101 women MPs surrounding their Prime Minister - an image that spawned the infamous headline of "Blair's Babes". Harriet Harman was a rare woman veteran of life in opposition. She remembers how exciting it was, but how in her role as Minister for Women, she quickly realised that women might be visible, but they weren't at the heart of government concerns.

For New Labour, optics were almost as important as policy. Arranging the big events fell to Blair's closest confidante, Anji Hunter, who masterminded the walk to Parliament for the Queen's Speech. She also worked hand in hand with Sue Nye, making sure their bosses shared their plans with their teams.

Kirsty Wark will also be joined by Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair's Chief of Staff - the man who advised on everything from who should sit where, to delivering peace in Northern Ireland - and the man he worked with on the transition, the Principle Private Secretary to both Major and Blair, Sir Alex Allan. You can hear their stories as they battle with taking power in the fog of sleep deprivation and the sunshine of record approval ratings.

Contributors:
Sir Alex Allan
Baroness Sue Nye
Anji Hunter
Harriet Harman
Jack Straw
Jonathan Powell

Producer: Marie Helly
Series Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown production for 麻豆社 Radio 4

Show less