The 1997 Blair papers recall a time of hope and constitutional reform

The official papers for the early months of the New Labour government have been published. John Rentoul has been working through them

Tony and Cherie Blair with the Queen and Prince Philip during the royal 50th wedding anniversary in 1997 (PA)

The first Blair government papers were published by the National Archives last month, and they provide a window into the first few months after that heady landslide election. Thanks to one of the reforms of that New Labour government, the 30-year rule for official secrets is being gradually reduced to 20 years, and the releases have now caught up with 24 years ago.

The best bits, for historians of the Blair years such as my colleagues at King’s College London and me, are Tony Blair’s handwritten notes in the margins of documents. At one point he wrote on a record of decisions taken by a ministerial committee on devolution policy: “I do not like this at all. I must see DD [Donald Dewar, the Scottish secretary] alone.” On another, also about devolution, he wrote: “Nothing in writing until post-ref[erendums] for fear of misrep[resentation].”

One of the gems I have found is a four-page handwritten memo by Tony Blair on the powers of the Scottish parliament, which provides a direct insight into the workings of the prime-ministerial brain. It is an aggressive defence of the supremacy of the House of Commons: “It is important to state clearly the relationship between the UK and Scotland following the establishment of a Scottish parliament. What is proposed is devolution not federation. Scotland remains an integral part of the UK. The Westminster parliament remains sovereign and retains that sovereignty over all matters. It is by exercise of that sovereignty that it agrees to devolve certain legislative capacity to the Scottish parliament.”