Bye Bye Mr

around English

teacher’s notes & key

Lead-in activities

What  you do here will depend on how mature  your class is,  and whether or not  they have any knowledge
of politics.  For classes  with little knowledge, matching anagrams of politicians’ names to countries would
be an option.  For more aware classes you could discuss how the UK system differs from those of most other
democracies  (the  Queen  as  Head  of  State,  a  non-proportional  (two-  or  three-party  system)  system,
no constitution other than normal laws etc.), and whether they know anything about Blair.

Pre-reading

Encourage speculation. The goal is for the students to predict and then read for specific information, so give
them time to predict. You could get different groups to put their ideas (T/F) on the board and do it as
a competition.
Key:
F, F, T, F, T, F

Connections in the text

This is very challenging and requires the students to read very carefully, paying attention to cohesive devices
suck as pronouns, subject agreement, linking devices etc. If you think it might be too difficult, or if they
seem to be struggling, tell them the order, or even make it a matching by telling them the four parts.
Key:
‘Other policies...’

after ‘open to discussion’ (the last sentence of the third paragraph)

‘It is, of course...’

after ‘How will Blair be remembered’ (the title of the fourth paragraph)

‘On the other...’ after ‘catholic and protestant communities’ (the middle of the fourth paragraph)
‘Time will tell...’ after ‘carefully watched’ (the last sentence)

Vocabulary 1

Key:

successor

predecessor

community

election

focus on

represent

modernise

announce

policy

efficiency

Vocabulary 2

Complete the sentences using one of the words above. You may need to change the form of the word.

1. elections

2. successor

3. predecessor

4. community

5. announce

6. policies

7. represents

8. modernise

9. efficient

10. focus on

PETER MORAN
JUNE 2007

around English

teacher’s notes & key

Word-building

This  will  be  challenging  and  you  should  check  carefully  during  feedback  that  the  students  understand  the
meaning  of  some  of  the  potentially  more  confusing  words  (economical,  economise,  politicise,  governor,
speculative) and their positive or negative connotations.  Be sure to check the stress patterns - this is a good
opportunity to raise the learners’ awareness of shifting stress within word families.

noun

person

adjective

verb

election

- - -

elected

elect

economy

economist

economical

economise

politics

politician

political

politicise

efficiency

- - -

efficient

- - -

moderniser

- - -

modernise

government

governor

- - -

govern

success

- - -

successful

succeed

speculation

moderniser

speculative

speculate

Discussion

The questions are designed to produce a discussion about politics rather than a political discussion, but if
your class is interested it may well go the other way. Additional topics to extend the discussion might in-
clude the role of money in politics, the level of apathy at election time and the role of referenda.

PETER MORAN
JUNE 2007

PHOTOCOPIABLE

Bye Bye Mr. Blair: the end of a political era

A long-expected exit

It was hardly a surprise in the end when
on 10  May  Tony  Blair  finally  an-
nounced  his  intention  to  step  down
as Prime  Minister.    There  had  been
endless  speculation  in the media  about
the  exact  date,  but  it  was  well  known
that he was planning to leave 10 Down-
ing Street sooner rather than later.

The route to the top

Tony Blair is a Scot, born in Edinburgh,
the capital  of  Scotland,  but  his  political
career is very much an English one.  His
first  attempt  to  win  election  was  not
very  successful,  however:  he  scored
only 10%  of the vote and lost his depo-
sit  (the  money  candidates  have  to  pay
to take part in elections).  Success came
in 1983, when he  was elected to Parlia-
ment,  representing  the  constituency
of Sedgefield  in  the  north-east  of  Eng-
land.    In  1994  Blair  was  elected  leader
of  the  Labour  Party  and  he  spent  the
next years, as he described it, modernis-
ing  the  party  and making  its  policies
more  centrist.    In 1997  he  defeated  the
ruling  Conservative  Party  and  became

the first Labour Prime Minister for 18
years.

Blair as Prime Minister

From the  beginning Blair’s government
focused  on  improving  public  services
like education and health.  The idea was
to do this  with  money  and  reforms:
spending  was  increased  steadily  and
market-like  mechanisms  were  intro-
duced  to  try  to  increase  efficiency.
Standards  have  improved,  though  how
far  this  is  the  result  of  the  reforms  is
open  to  discussion.    Other  policies
of Blair’s  governments  include  intro-
ducing  a minimum  wage,  devolving
power to Scotland and Wales and intro-
ducing university tuition fees.

How will Blair be
remembered?

is, of course, impossible to say with

any  certainty.    However,  some  impor-
tant points are clear, on both the positive
and  the  negative  sides.    He  will  proba-
bly be  most  warmly remembered as the
man  who  helped  to  bring  peace
to Northern  Ireland.    His  predecessors
may  have  started  the  process,  but  it  is

Blair’s  patience  and  energy  which
is credited  with  bringing  about  the  cur-
rent  peaceful  and stable  situation  where
power is shared by both the catholic and
protestant  communities.    On  the  other
hand,  Blair’s  involvement  of  the  UK
in the  invasion  of  Iraq  will  cast  a  sha-
dow over his achievements.  Indeed, his
popularity  has  already  fallen  very  low
as a result.
Whatever  one’s  opinion  of  the  Blair
governments’  policies,  however,  Blair
will  be remembered  as  a  winner  more
than  anything  else.    He  has  won  three
general  elections  in  a row,  has  been
Prime  Minister  for  a decade  and  has
been the dominant politician of his gen-
eration.

What next?

The next Prime Minister will be

the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Secre-
tary  of  State  for  Finance)  Gordon
Brown.  Certainly  less  charismatic  than
Blair  but  highly  intelligent  and  deter-
mined,  his  attempts  to step  into  Blair’s
shoes  will  be  carefully  watched.    Time
will  tell  if  he  can  step  out  of Blair’s
shadow.

Key dates in Tony Blair’s
political career

1983

Blair is elected to Parliament for the first time

1994

Blair is elected Leader of the Labour Party

1997

Blair wins the general election and becomes the youngest Prime Minister since 1812

2001

Blair wins a second term as Prime Minister

2005

Blair wins a third term as Prime Minister

2007

Blair announces his decision to step down as Prime Minister

PETER MORAN
JUNE 2007

After a decade as Prime Minister, To-
ny Blair is stepping down. How will
the UK remember him?

TONY
BLAIR