THE LADDIE'S NOT FOR TURNING; Blair does a Thatcher with No U-turns pledge.Tony Blair Noun 1. Tony Blair - British statesman who became prime minister in 1997 (born in 1953)Anthony Charles Lynton Blair, Blair yesterday vowed never to back down on his tough policies. The Prime Minister insisted: "Backbone, not backdown Back´down` n. 1. A receding or giving up; a complete surrender. Noun 1. backdown - a retraction of a previously held position climb-down, withdrawal , is what Britain needs." The speech was an uncanny re-run of the Tory years when Mrs Thatcher Thatch·er , Margaret Hilda. Baroness. Born 1925. British Conservative politician who served as prime minister (1979-1990). Her administration was marked by anti-inflationary measures, a brief war in the Falkland Islands (1982), and the passage of a pledged "the lady's not for turning". Blair's tough talking won a four-minute standing ovation from delegates at the Labour Party conference in Blackpool. Four times, he pledged there would be "no backing down". His government would stick to its tough inflation targets. Hold firm on interest rates. Keep a tight reign on public spending and borrowing. And stick with the high value of the pound. Blair said these policies would deliver the health service, education system and safe society Britain wanted. And in a hard-hitting attack on Scottish nationalism, he called for an end to "narrow chauvinism chauvinism (shō`vənĭzəm), word derived from the name of Nicolas Chauvin, a soldier of the First French Empire. Used first for a passionate admiration of Napoleon, it now expresses exaggerated and aggressive nationalism. masquerading as idealism". |
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