July 2008 marks the 25th anniversary of both Tony Blair's and Gordon Brown's maiden speeches in the House of Commons - 6 July and 27 July 1983 respectively. So TB got in ahead of GB back then, too!

Here's an extract from TB's:

I am a Socialist not through reading a textbook that has caught my intellectual fancy, nor through unthinking tradition, but because I believe that, at its best, Socialism corresponds most closely to an existence that is both rational and moral. It stands for co-operation, not confrontation; for fellowship, not fear. It stands for equality, not because it wants people to be the same but because only through equality in our economic circumstances can our individuality develop properly.