“New Labour had a difficult, unstable relationship with football. In the early days, there was a clear attempt to embrace the game. One of Tony Blair’s most memorable media moments in opposition was a bizarre photo-shoot with the then-Newcastle United manager Kevin Keegan. For Blair, not a football fan by any means (despite occasional attempts to suggest otherwise) 27 consecutive headers between the two was rather impressive. Labour swept to power on the coattails of the Cool Britannia mood of the mid 1990s, perhaps best epitomised culturally by Euro 96.” Blizzard