[3] As he "developed a eurosceptic and anti-immigration agenda that has shaken up the cozy post-war consensual system prevailing in neutral Switzerland",[3] Blocher served as the de facto leader of the SVP and a symbol of the party, holding its vice presidency from 2008 until 2018.

[4] Blocher was born 11 October 1940 in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, the seventh of eleven children, to Wolfram (1897–1972)[5] and Ida (née Baur; 1908–1994).

[2][7] His second great-grandfather Johann Georg Blocher (1811–1899),[8][9] a teacher, originally hailed from Beuggen near Rheinfelden in the Kingdom of Württemberg and immigrated to Switzerland around 1833, becoming a citizen in the village of Schattenhalb in the Bernese Alps, in 1861.

[1][13] When Blocher was voted into the Swiss Federal Council in 2003, he retired from all business functions in EMS and sold his majority holding to his four children on 30 December 2003.

[14] Blocher built his political career by campaigning for smaller government, for a free-market economy, against Switzerland's membership in the European Union and for more tightly controlled immigration.

[17][18][19] In 1982, Blocher founded Arbeitsgruppe Südliches Afrika, a pro-South Africa working group made up of Swiss members of parliament, such as Ulrich Schlüer.

According to a Swiss government-funded research study authored by historian Peter Hug, records of the South African military intelligence agency show that the agency valued contact with Blocher, Peter Sager and other Swiss figures to create a positive view of Apartheid South Africa.

Blocher soon consolidated his power in Zürich, and began to renew the organisational structures, activities, campaigning style and political agenda of the local branch.

The Zürich wing began to politicise asylum issues, and the question of European integration started to dominate Swiss political debates.

This was the biggest increase of votes for any party in the entire history of the Swiss proportional electoral system, which was introduced in 1919.

These remarks were in relation to a World Jewish Congress-initiated lawsuit calling for restitution of Nazi-seized assets that were hidden in Swiss banks.

[35] The district court requested to lift the immunity of Blocher, which he enjoyed through his office as a member of the National Council.

During 2004, Blocher's unconventionally unaccommodating stance towards his fellow federal councillors was the cause for speculations about the future of the Swiss concordance system.

In a public speech held at his cantonal party's annual Albisgüetlitagung in Zürich on 20 January 2006, Blocher labeled two Albanians seeking political asylum as "criminals", although no judicial verdict had been reached at the time.

On 5 September 2007, a parliamentary committee sharply criticised Blocher for overstepping his mandate in his handling of the resignation of former chief prosecutor Valentin Roschacher in 2006.

In addition, documents confiscated in March by the German authorities from private banker Oskar Holenweger under suspicion of money laundering were presented as supporting a possible involvement of Blocher in a plot to oust Roschacher from office.

Blocher was a target for the opposition on 18 September 2007, when his appearance at the Comptoir suisse (Swiss fair) in Lausanne was disrupted by protesters.

In the Swiss Federal Council elections of 12 December 2007, Blocher did not receive the necessary number of votes in the parliament to retain his seat.

In his stead, the parliament elected Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf (a moderate SVP member), who accepted the mandate on 13 December 2007.

[47] Not surprisingly, he had no chance of being re-elected and had to make room for his party colleague Ueli Maurer, who won the election in the end.

[48] After the extremely large 2007–2008 losses posted by UBS, its chairman Marcel Ospel resigned on 1 April 2008, and Blocher was rumoured to be considered as his replacement.

[51] Returning to the National Council in 2011, Blocher announced that he would resign on 31 May 2014, saying that he was "wasting too much time in parliament" and that he wanted to focus on other political priorities like the implementation of the successful referendum result and a planned initiative on preventing Switzerland joining the European Union.

[15] In January 2016, soon after the 2015 federal election, where the Swiss People's Party received record gains, Blocher announced that he would not stand for reelection as vice president of the SVP when his term ended in April.

[58] In March 2018, the SVP announced that Blocher would resign as the party's chief strategist, though he would continue to remain involved in Swiss politics.