By the time Blair, following the example of his friend US President Bill Clinton, became Prime Minister by promoting the “third way,” socialism seemed to be dead and buried. Clinton and Blair – who came to power after that other odd Anglo-American couple, Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, had started to tear at the fabric of social democracy – made compromises of which Attlee would not have dreamed.
当布莱尔效仿他的朋友、美国总统比尔·克林顿，通过承诺“第三条路”成为英国首相时，社会主义似乎已经死透了。克林顿和布莱尔——继奇怪的盎格鲁-美利坚组合里根和撒切尔夫人之后，这一对组合开始撕扯社会民主派的纹理——达成了艾德礼想都不敢想的妥协。