The term originated following the
1997 general election when the Conservative Party referred to people awarded positions of power by
Tony Blair as "Tony's Cronies", as the
Labour Party had won the election. His childhood friend and former flatmate,
Charlie Falconer, was appointed as a peer, sat on 14
Cabinet sub-committees and later joined the Cabinet.
House of Lords During his first term of office, Blair created 203
life peers, whom the Conservatives referred to as "Tony's Cronies". In 1999,
William Hague, the
Leader of the Conservative Party and the
Leader of the Opposition, referred in the
House of Commons to the
House of Lords Bill, as replacing the
House of Lords with a "house of cronies". When the bill was passed, it removed the rights of
hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords; they were replaced by life peers and the House of Lords was called "a chamber of Tony's Cronies", as many life peers had been appointed by Blair to replace the hereditary peers. However, while the bill was going through the Parliamentary stages, the Conservative hereditary peers voted through an amendment that an independent body, which became known as the
House of Lords Appointments Commission, would be created to check all further nominations to the House of Lords. This was intended to prevent the Prime Minister from being able to create new life peers at will or on personal grounds. It also made the provision for "
people's peers" to be created, independent of political influence, which was viewed in the media as a way to balance against "Tony's Cronies". Despite the House of Lords Act removing many Conservative Peers, the Conservatives still held a plurality in that body, leading Blair to appoint additional peers; in 2004 alone he made 23 new appointments. This came after Conservative peers sometimes voted with
crossbenchers and
Liberal Democrat peers against Labour's proposed legislation. It was also due to poor attendance from the Labour Party's
working peers. In 2005, Blair appointed 16 new life peers to the House of Lords, making Labour the strongest party in the House for the first time ever. These regular appointments of new peers on apparent favouritism was criticised by the
Scottish National Party's
Chief Whip,
Pete Wishart, as a "typical Establishment fix".
Other positions The accusations of
cronyism also extended to a number of public appointments Blair made. In 2001, the public administration
select committee held an inquiry into the claims that the government rewarded "Tony's Cronies". In 2002, there were also accusations of cronyism from the Conservatives and the
Mayor of London,
Ken Livingstone, when Labour gave
Lord Hollick, a friend of Blair, the chairmanship of the
Southbank Centre arts complex as a personal gift. Labour rejected this claim, saying that the appointment was not covered by the public appointments guidelines. The accusation of "Tony's Cronies" also extended to the
European Union when Blair appointed
Peter Mandelson as the UK's
European Union Commissioner. This move was criticised by members of the Labour party, with Labour
MP,
Ian Davidson, saying that it was "... seen as arrogance by
New Labour, bringing in a crony of the Prime Minister who is deeply unpopular in the Labour Party." Raising the spectre of "Tony's Cronies" became a standard method of attacking Blair. In 2007, Blair resigned and
Gordon Brown took over the position of prime minister. Brown started to remove most of those who were seen as "Tony's Cronies" from the
Cabinet. However, there were reports of Labour MPs trying to gain favour with Brown after he appointed his former press secretary,
Ian Austin, as his
Parliamentary Private Secretary. ==Legacy==