How Tony Blair kept the Tories divided – but failed to win the argument on Europe

Cabinet papers from 1997 to 2000 reveal that Kenneth Clarke hoped New Labour would bring in proportional representation, writes John Rentoul

Tony Blair with former prime minister John Major in May 1997 (AFP via Getty)

It is that time of year, when the National Archives release a new batch of confidential government papers. This year the ritual is slightly different: a good example of what John Prescott, the former deputy prime minister, called traditional values in a modern setting. A combination of coronavirus and digitisation means that many of the documents are published online, saving journalists and historians the trip to Kew to read them on paper.

Then, instead of the usual year’s worth, we have three years at once, the first three years of the Blair government, 1997 to 2000. This is to try to catch up with the change made when Gordon Brown was prime minister, to reduce the 30-year rule for the retention of confidential government papers to 20 years. The National Archives are nearly there now, bringing the gap down to 21 years.

There is a third difference, though, which is more subtle, namely that government secrecy is not what it used to be. The huge tranche of documents published – journalists and researchers were allowed two weeks’ access in advance to give them a chance to get through it all – contain surprisingly few big stories about what was going on behind the scenes.