This is the fourth volume in the series which analyses the impact of contemporary government. The earlier volumes, The Thatcher Effect, The Major Effect and The Blair Effect 1997–2001, were published in 1989, 1994 and 2001 respectively.

The approach has been the same as in the earlier three volumes. Leading authorities from academe and the media address common themes in their specialist area:

• What was the state of the area at the June 2001 general election?

• What was the state of that area at the May 2005 general election?

• What had changed and why?

• How successful or effective have any changes been?

• To what extent was change driven by the Prime Minister himself, or from Number 10 in general, by ministers, departments, think tanks or any other factors?

• What was the net ‘Blair effect’ in that area between 1997 and 2005?

Within this framework, authors were encouraged to develop their own particular approaches. Inevitably some stuck closely to the guidelines, others were freer in their interpretation of their brief. The aim has been to cover only the areas where the second Blair government made a significant fresh impact. Some chapter areas were dropped from the volume on the first Blair government, such as on the civil service, the constitution, defence and Northern Ireland, because little fresh happened to merit writing a separate chapter. The aim in this volume also was to write a shorter, more targeted book than The Blair Effect 1997–2001, which was over 650 pages.