In British politics, the term Blairism refers to the political ideology of former leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister Tony Blair, who left both positions in 2007 to become Envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East. Proponents of Blairism are referred to as Blairites.

Politically, Blair has been identified with record investment into public services, an interventionist and Atlanticist foreign policy, support for stronger law enforcement powers, a large focus on surveillance as a means to address terrorism and a large focus on education as a means to encourage social mobility. In the early years (circa 1994-1997), Blairism was also associated with support for European integration and particularly British participation in the European single currency, though this waned after Labour took office.

The term is used in particular in contrast to Brownite, to identify those within the Labour Party with a connection to, or identification with, Gordon Brown rather than Blair. However, with Blair and Brown typically in agreement on most political issues (from Iraq to public sector reform), commentators have noted that "the difference between Brownites and Blairites … is more tribal than ideological". This is believed to stem from a personal disagreement between Blair and Brown over who should have run for the leadership following the death of John Smith in 1994: though Brown was originally considered the senior of the two, he waited until after Smith's funeral to begin campaigning by which point Blair had gathered too much momentum to be beaten.

John Alan Redwood (born 15 June 1951) is a British Conservative Party politician and Member of Parliament for Wokingham. He was formerly Secretary of State for Wales in Prime Minister John Major's Cabinet and was an unsuccessful challenger for the leadership of the Conservative Party in 1995. He is currently Co-Chairman of the Conservative Party's Policy Review Group on Economic Competitiveness, and a leading Tory thinker. He is notably employed by NM Rothschild and Sons.

Redwood was born in Dover, Kent. He was the only child to William Charles and his wife, Amy Emma Redwood (nee Champion.) His parents lived in a council house in Canterbury until Redwood was four years old. Redwood was educated locally, attending Kent College, Canterbury on a scholarship before going up to Magdalen College, Oxford where he obtained the degree of BA in Modern History in 1971. He later studied at St Antony's College, Oxford, taking the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in 1975.

From 1974 to 1977, he was an investment analyst at Robert Fleming & Co. From 1977 to 1978, he was a Bank Clerk at N M Rothschild & Sons, becoming a Manager in 1978, Assistant Director in 1979 and a Director of the Overseas Division from 1980 to 1983. From 1986 to 1987, he was Overseas Corporate Finance Director and Head of International (non-UK) Privatisation.

The Right Honourable Andrew John Bower Mitchell MP (born 23 March 1956) is a British Conservative Party politician and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sutton Coldfield. He was appointed as Secretary of State for International Development on 12 May 2010, and as a Privy Counsellor on 13 May 2010.

A former UN peacekeeper, he has extensive pre-government experience of the developing world, and is the founder of Project Umubano, a Conservative Party social action project in Rwanda and Sierra Leone in central and west Africa, launched in 2007.

A former President of the Cambridge Union and Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party, he became Secretary of State for International Development in 2010. Both in Opposition and Government, he has repeatedly asserted the need for full transparency and value for money in British aid contributions to the developing world, with resources concentrated on the world's poorest and most troubled countries. Those judged now able to support their own citizens, such as Russia, China, Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia, will no longer be eligible to receive aid. He has made the commitment to reach the UN target to spend 0.7 per cent of UK GNI on aid to the developing world by 2013.

James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007, becoming the longest-serving holder of that office in modern history. Brown has been a Member of Parliament (MP) since 1983, for Dunfermline East until 2005, and currently for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath.

Brown became Prime Minister on 27 June 2007, after the resignation of Tony Blair and three days after becoming Leader of the governing Labour Party. His tenure ended on 11 May 2010, when he resigned as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party. Brown was one of only three people to serve in the Cabinet continuously from Labour's victory in 1997 until its defeat in 2010, the others being Jack Straw and Alistair Darling.

Brown has a PhD in history from the University of Edinburgh and spent his early career working as a lecturer at a further education college and a television journalist. He has been a Member of Parliament since 1983; first for Dunfermline East and since 2005 for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath. As Prime Minister, he also held the offices of First Lord of the Treasury and the Minister for the Civil Service.

Dr Jonathan Cruddas (born 7 April 1962) is a British Labour Party politician who has been a Member of Parliament (MP) since 2001, first for Dagenham, and then from 2010 onwards for Dagenham and Rainham. Cruddas stood for the Deputy Leadership of the Labour Party in 2007, being eliminated in the penultimate round of the contest. Unlike the other candidates, he openly stated that he did not wish to become Deputy Prime Minister. He won the most votes of all candidates in the first round of voting, obtaining 19.39% of the vote from both party members and party-affiliated organisations, and it is thought that the second-choice votes of the Cruddas supporters contributed to Harriet Harman's eventual victory. After his campaign, he was offered a position in the Cabinet by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, which he turned down. Despite being touted by some media sources as a potential candidate for the future Leadership of the Labour Party, he ruled himself out of the 2010 election, saying that he did not want the job but wanted to influence policy. In 2012, Cruddas was appointed to Ed Miliband's Shadow Cabinet, becoming responsible for leading Labour's policy review.