Reuters: UK's Blair defies critics over departure date

[Eugene]

UK's Blair defies critics over departure date

By Adrian Croft
Reuters
Thursday, August 31, 2006; 7:28 PM

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair urged an end
to speculation about when he will leave office and asked to be allowed
to get on with his job in an interview published on Friday.

The Times newspaper said Blair had defied critics in his Labour Party
by refusing to name a date for stepping down.

Dashing expectations, he insisted he had no intention of saying more
about his future either before or during the Labour Party annual
conference that opens on September 24, The Times said.

Blair has faced constant rumors about when he will step down after he
pledged before winning a third successive general election last year
that he would not seek a fourth term.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/31/AR2006083101391.html

[spindrifter]

1. He can't stand the thought of losing his

title Bush's poodle.

[cal04]

2. Blair moves to quell rebellion

PM will quit by next summer but doesn't want to make conference announcement
Tony Blair moved yesterday to try to halt the growing rebellion about his departure plans by briefing that he intends to leave No 10 in 2007.

In interviews yesterday he sidestepped precise questions about when he will stand down, and he is refusing to issue a timetable at next month's party conference - something that is being demanded by a number of increasingly vociferous Labour backbenchers.

"He is trying not to convey the impression that he is in a mood of defiance," one source said.

The prime minister's current thinking is that he will stand down next summer. An announcement would come before the May elections for the Welsh assembly and Scottish parliament, which are likely to see heavy Labour losses. Mr Blair is in a quandary, believing he will lose his remaining political authority if he sets an explicit date now. But he recognises that he risks stoking the fires of rebellion inside the party if he does not offer a timetable that reassures backbenchers.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1862773,00.html

[Matilda]

3. To be fair, though, the minute he announces a date

he becomes a lame duck. (Okay, so he's pretty lame already, but you know what I mean).

I just think that if he cared for his party and the country he'd go now, because he has become
a liability.

It is sad, though - I had such high hopes when he was first elected, and never expected that he'd
turn out the way he did.

[Benhurst]

7. Labour should screw their courage to the wall

and :hurts: flush the little turd immediately.

[AlamoDemoc]

4. I think Blair has self ridiculed himself as go along with Bush

He has to see come to terms after he retires how many Iraqi children he killed and how many unnecessary British soldiers died in Iraq.

[Demeter]

5. People Thing the US IS Wussy, Cause It Won't Impeach Bush

but Britain makes us look good. They have a mechanism much simpler for trashing bad leaders, and nobody's using it!

[Cha]

6. Bye, toady blur and if the

door hits ya in the ass..tough shite.

[struggle4progress]

8. Blair tells shocked whips: I’m staying on as PM until 2008

03 September 2006
By James Cusick
Westminster Editor

Tony Blair has told Labour whips to prepare a parliamentary battle strategy for him to stay on as leader until 2008. The request, which challenges most of the current expectations that the Prime Minister would step down next year, is said to have shocked some senior figures in the office responsible for party discipline at Westminster.

Details of the request have been kept private, but it is thought most of the Cabinet and other senior ministers are now aware of what one source called “his determination not to be forced out till he believes his effectiveness as Prime Minister is well and truly over, and that time is still some way off.”

There are now virtually no senior figures in Labour ranks who expect the Prime Minister to lay out a timetable for his departure from Number 10 at this year’s annual conference in Manchester in three weeks’ time ...

One former minister, however, said the real victims of Blair’s refusal to be pushed out would be the Whips Office. He said: “God help them because it’s mission impossible.”

http://www.sundayherald.com/57730