Is Tony Blair more like a President than a Prime Minister In order to assess whether Tony Blair’s leadership is more presidential than prime ministerial, one must first consider the significant differences between the presidential and Parliamentary regimes. The Presidential system of government is characterised by a constitutional separation of powers between the legislative (congress) and the executive (the Presidency). In Britain, however, the executive and legislative overlap. ‘In theory, the US President exercises …showed first 75 words of 1994 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1994 total…President. Subsequently it is reasonable that the term ‘presidential’ has been applied to Tony Blair’s leadership. ‘It is important to point out that such an assertion does not imply that the British premiership has become indistinguishable from the American presidency. But neither does it carry the implication that the two positions are continuing to follow divergent courses of political development. What is being suggested is that they have come to move along parallel paths.’17