British Prime Minister Tony Blair is expected to pay an official visit to South Africa from 31 May to 1 June 2007, to hold discussion with President Thabo Mbeki at the Union Buildings, in Pretoria,  BuaNews reported on Monday.

“This will be Prime Minister Blair’s last visit before stepping down as Prime Minister of Great Britain,” said the Department of Foreign Affairs on Sunday.
 
The visit is significant since it takes place on the eve of the G8 Summit scheduled for Germany to which President Mbeki has been invited as part of the African group.
 
In addition it is anticipated that Prime Minister Blair will deliver a major policy speech focusing on Africa.
 
Prime Minister Blair has consistently emphasised the importance of Africa’s development by designating the year 2005 as the Year of Africa.
 
As a consequence, said the department, Africa’s development was primary item on the agenda of the G8 Summit held in Gleneagles and many of the recommendations of the Commission for Africa were taken up at the Gleneagles Summit building on the G8 Africa Action Plan launched at Kananaskis in Canada in 2002.
 
Much of this was incorporated into an agreed, detailed set of commitments by the G8 to address the areas of poverty, covering aspects such as peace and security, good Governance, human development and growth.
 
“The British Government views South Africa as a major strategic partner in Africa and South Africa expects that this relationship will be consolidated by Prime Minister Blair’s successor,” the department said.
 
Blair is expected to be succeeded by Gordon Brown, current Chancellor of the Exchequer.
 
“Accordingly Prime Minister Blair’s visit will afford us an opportunity to review our bilateral political, economic and trade relations and how they can be deepened.”
 
Blair was born on 6 May 1953, in Edinburgh, but spent most of his childhood in Durham.
 
He studied law at Oxford, and went on to become a barrister himself.
 
After standing unsuccessfully for the Labour Party in a by-election, Blair went on to win the seat of Sedgefield in the 1983 General Election, aged 30.
 
The Labour Party won the 1997 General Election by a landslide, after 18 years in Opposition. At the age of 43 , Blair became the youngest Prime Minister since Lord Liverpool in 1812.
 
The government began to implement a far-reaching programme of constitutional change, putting the question of devolution to referendums in Scotland and Wales.
 
An elected post of Mayor of London was established at the head of a new capital-wide authority, and all but 92 hereditary peers were removed from the House of Lords in the first stage of its reform.
 
The UK government has also implemented an investment programme of 42-billion pounds in its priority areas of health and education.

Blair was re-elected with another landslide majority in the 2001 General Election.
 
His second term was dominated by foreign policy issues - notably the 'war on terror' which followed the September 11 attacks in New York, and the war in Iraq.
 
The Labour Party went on to win a third term for Mr Blair in May 2005, albeit with a reduced majority.
 
Outside Number 10 on the day after his victory, the PM said that 'respect' would play a big part in his third term agenda.
 
He said he wanted to bring back:
"A proper sense of respect in our schools, in our communities, in our towns and our villages."
 
Blair is married to the barrister Cherie Booth QC, and they have four children. Their youngest, Leo, was the first child born to a serving Prime Minister in over 150 years.
 
The incoming Prime Minister, James Gordon Brown was appointed as Chancellor of the Exchequer on 2 May 1997.
 
He was born in 1951 and educated at Kirkcaldy High School and Edinburgh University, where he gained First Class Honours and then a Doctorate.
 
He was Rector of Edinburgh University and Chairman of the University Court between 1972 and 1975.
 
From 1976 to 1980, Brown lectured at Edinburgh University and then Caledonian University before taking up a post at Scottish TV (1980 - 1983).
 
After becoming an MP, Mr Brown was the Chair of the Labour Party Scottish Council.
 
Before becoming Shadow Chancellor in 1992, he held two other senior posts on the Opposition front bench - Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Shadow Trade and Industry Secretary. - BuaNews