Blair’s Record on Defence: A Strategic Analysis

Abstract

The record of Blair’s period in office makes it inevitable that defence figures significantly in our perception of his time as Prime Minister. From operation Desert Fox in 1998, to the ongoing war in Iraq, Blair has revealed a propensity to use military force as a tool of policy. Whilst there has been much analysis concerning the implications for his relationship with his own party, little has been written from a Strategic Studies perspective. This work seeks to rectify this gap in the literature. In doing so the following chapter will present a dispassionate analysis of how effectively Blair has used military force to achieve his policy objectives. There is no other way a strategic analyst should judge the former Prime Minister. Such an approach is not only correct from a conceptual perspective, but is also in line with the standards set by the Blair government itself. The 1998 Strategic Defence Review differentiated itself from the reviews of the previous Conservative governments by claiming that foreign policy goals would drive defence policy. Indeed, the review opens with a section entitled ‘A Strategic Approach to Defence’.