UK's Blair to resign next July: report

[rpannier]

LONDON (Reuters) - Tony Blair will leave office on July 26, the Sun newspaper reported in its Wednesday edition, as the increasingly unpopular prime minister faced growing pressure to quit from within his own Labor Party.

snip

The Sun said Blair would step down as head of the Labor Party on May 31, less than a month after his tenth anniversary in office. He would resign as prime minister eight weeks later, after an election to choose a successor as party leader, expected to be his finance minister, Gordon Brown.


snip

His popularity has plunged after a series of government scandals over sleaze and mismanagement, as well as controversy over the Iraq war. Opinion polls put Labor well behind the opposition Conservatives -- resurgent under their youthful, pro-environment leader David Cameron.

Blair's office declined to comment on the Sun story: "We have no intention of commenting on any speculation of the timetable," a spokeswoman said

Link at:
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-09-05T224919Z_01_L05434410_RTRUKOC_0_US-BRITAIN-POLITICS.xml&archived=False

[sweetheart]

1. 1 year

before the british mainland turns in to a cameron-tory prison camp....

be prepared.

[snowbear]

2. NEXT July ?? .... Why wait so long??

Bush and Blair should both head out within the next week... next two at the VERY most.

BUSH > BLAIR >

[texpatriot2004]

3. Agreed! nt

[sknabt]

4. Well, when he's out of No. 10 he can move into the White House

He's Bush's little poodle, after all. Might as well go sit in his master's lap.

Sad to say, I used to admire Tony Blair quite a bit. But once he got entangled in Bush's little war in Iraq he really firmly implanted his head up his arse. As soon as he hitched himself to Bush's wagon you could just see Blair's credibility and career spinning down the drain. Such a bright guy, he should have seen it coming.