News & Politics - Blair: I'll go within year

quaist · 09-07-2006, 09:24 AM

Blair, Pressed by Party, Pledges to Retire in a Year

By Robert Hutton and Gonzalo Vina

Sept. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Tony Blair, seeking to curtail a revolt in his Labour Party, said he would step down as U.K. prime minister in the next year, rejecting calls for an immediate handover to Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown.

``The next party conference in a couple of weeks will be my last as party leader,'' Blair said, while visiting a school in London today. ``I'm not going to set a precise date now. I'll do that at a future date. The precise timetable has to be left up to me and to be done in a proper way.''

The comments were Blair's most precise timetable yet for when he would retire. The lack of a precise date may not be enough to satisfy a growing minority within the Labour Party calling for a transfer of power now.

Labour lawmakers in recent weeks have grown increasingly rebellious in the face of the party's tumbling poll ratings and Blair's unyielding backing for U.S. President George W. Bush on Middle East policy. Brown said he would support Blair's decision.

``Of course there are questions about what happens in times to come,'' Brown told reporters in Glasgow before Blair's announcement. ``This cannot and should not be about private arrangements, but what is in the best interests of our party and in the best interests of our country, and I will support him.''

Trigger for Debate

Blair, 53, triggered the current debate over his leadership on Sept. 1, when he returned from his summer holiday and told the Times newspaper he would not spell out plans for his departure. Yesterday, eight junior members of the government resigned their posts saying Blair's leadership was a liability to the party.

Brown, 55, stood aside from a leadership contest against Blair in 1994 and has proclaimed his right to be successor ever since. Only one other Labour member of Parliament, John McDonnell, 54, has said he will stand for the leadership.

Tensions between Blair and Brown about the timing of a handover have seeped into the Labour Party. While Brown remained silent since July, his deputy, Economic Secretary Ed Balls, has called for an orderly transition. Blair's allies Alan Milburn and Stephen Byers, have called for a debate about the future leader.

``The Chancellor is in an invidious position,'' Patrick Dunleavy, a professor of politics at the London School of Economics, said in an interview. What's happening isn't ``harmful to Gordon Brown at the moment because everybody is blaming the situation on Blair.''

Talks with Brown

Blair met Brown yesterday to discuss the handover. Until today, Blair has only said only that he wouldn't fight the election due by mid-2010 and that he would leave ``ample time'' for his successor to settle into the job.

The squabbling has contributed to Labour's declining popularity against opposition parties. Support for Labour fell 2 points to 32 percent while the Conservatives led in popularity with 36 percent, according to a Populus Ltd. Last month an ICM Ltd. poll the portion of voters favoring Labour at a 19-year low of 31 percent. The margin of error in both surveys was 3 points.

``When the prime minister's authority is visibly ebbing away and there's a likelihood the next six-to-nine months will be preoccupied with a leadership contest, there is a serious undermining of government,'' Liberal Democrat lawmaker Vince Cable said in an interview. ``He clearly made a mistake.''

Blair, who won three elections for Labour since 1997, pre- announced his own departure in September 2004, saying he didn't want to fight for a fourth term. The pledge was intended to avoid the fate of Margaret Thatcher, who was forced out of office by the Conservatives in 1990.

Earlier today, the Cabinet minister in charge of the House of Commons, Jack Straw, said Labour would have a new leader in time for its annual conference in September 2007. This year's meeting begins on Sept. 24 in Manchester. Party rules mean electing a new leader can two or three months, suggesting Blair may resign sometime in May 2007.

``There will be a new leader whoever it is by this time next year,'' Straw told BBC Radio 4 today. ``That should be sufficient certainty for the party to settle down, to draw back from this abyss.''

**sum1** · 09-07-2006, 09:28 AM

Pity. And Jeez I don't get anybody wanting Gordon Brown running the country.

Lexis · 09-07-2006, 11:43 AM

Well, I don't think its a pity at all. Interesting to see how the transition goes - I'm rooting for Brown.

mandine · 09-07-2006, 01:12 PM

I'm rooting for Brown too, he has some decent policies, I mean reducing child poverty by 2010 Im all for that!

Straw is sly! He was the one who conviced Blair to tell everyone he would step down by the next general election as an attempt to win back voters who were all going to Cameron and his 'fresh start' and now it shows he didn't want to help blair but really get rid of him

I doubt Blair will leave untill there's a serious candidate other than Brown for leadership, he really doesn't want Brown to get leadership...

elisheva · 09-07-2006, 06:03 PM

I don't know much about British politics, but it'll be interesting to watch this. I've always had a reasonably positive impression of Tony Blair (but that is of course from the very far remove of Montreal, where we don't get much news of internal British politics that doesn't have to do with fox hunting!)

quaist · 09-09-2006, 09:05 AM

No nice words for Brown...

Blair tries to rein in squabbling

Tony Blair is to make a rallying speech to Labour activists in an attempt to end infighting in the party.

The call comes as former home secretary Charles Clarke launches another attack on Chancellor Gordon Brown.

At the end of a week in which Labour focused on when the PM will hand over power, he tells the Daily Telegraph Mr Brown is a "deluded control freak".

A handful of protesters were involved in scuffles with police as Mr Blair arrived at the central London venue.

Mr Blair is making the keynote speech at the 10th anniversary conference of the Progress Organisation.

He will urge the party to stop "fretting" about opinion polls and to focus on challenges facing the country.

In his address to the New Labour think tank, he is likely to call for those concerned that his party is trailing the Tories in opinion polls to recognise that popularity swings are part of government life.

His massive weakness is that he can't work with people
Charles Clarke,
Former home secretary

The prime minister will also urge politicians and activists to have faith in the public and concentrate on issues such as security, migration, globalisation and the environment.

The attempt to heal wounds within the party comes as Mr Clarke launches another attack on Mr Brown.

The former Cabinet minister's words follow mounting speculation about the end of Mr Blair's tenure as prime minister and his likely successor.

Mr Clarke had already branded the chancellor - who is widely expected to succeed Mr Blair - as "absolutely stupid" in a newspaper interview.

And, speaking to the Telegraph, he added further criticisms.

'Control freak'

Mr Clarke accused Mr Brown of being unable to work with other people, as well as lacking the courage to take tough decisions .

"He is totally, totally uncollegiate," he said.

"From my own experience of dealing with student finance and ID cards, it was very, very difficult to work with him - very difficult indeed.

"It was the control freak thing. His massive weakness is that he can't work with people."

The former home secretary also said the chancellor was labouring under the "delusion" that he could have beaten Blair for the Labour leadership if he had stood in 1994, when in fact he would have been "humiliated".

Polls cast doubts

Mr Clarke had previously been seen as a close ally of Mr Blair, but said he was "furious" to have been sacked by the prime minister in May and denied he was "working in league with Tony Blair or Downing Street".

Labour Party chair Hazel Blears said she did not recognise Mr Clarke's description of the chancellor and such views were not widely shared across the government.

"I am saying to everybody, all my colleagues, let's concentrate on the challenges that are out there," she added.

Source

mandine · 09-12-2006, 07:15 AM

Right, like Charles Clarke has a perfect record, don't really think he is in any position to be critisising Brown. Although I agree Blair is much more of a 'people person'

I don't support Labour but I really want Brown to become leader of the party, he's waited 10years for the job..

Orton · 09-12-2006, 02:36 PM

Oh thank God. Maybe we'll get someone who actually cares for their own country.


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