Shortly after coming to power, Tony Blair's New Labour government expressed its strong commitment to tackling the problem of school expulsion. The Treasury's 1998 Spending Review included the bold target to achieve "a reduction by one third in... exclusions (from 12,500 to 8,400 permanent exclusions a year) by 2002". This article gives an overview of the approach the Labour government has taken in meeting its own ambitious target. It then goes on to map why their original objectives have changed. Finally, it will set out some prospects for school exclusion in the next few years. (Contains 10 notes.)