U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair was first nicknamed “Teflon Tony” twenty years ago, thanks to his seemingly uncanny, but actually highly calculated, ability to emerge unscathed from scandal. His pioneering media spin machine, his fresh centrist energy after John Major’s drab tenure and Margaret Thatcher’s endless reign and the weakness of a befuddled opposition all contributed. The shine was only tarnished, two decades on, by Blair’s enthusiastic mobilization for the Iraq war.
