|
Embattled Blair faces revolt
07/05/2006 12:37 - (SA)
London - British Prime Minister Tony Blair is preparing to walk a political tightrope this week as a sweeping cabinet reshuffle in the wake of dismal local elections failed to silence calls for him to quit.
His finance minister Gordon Brown - widely expected to be his successor - repeatedly hammered home the message on Sunday that a "stable and orderly transition" of power was required and put the onus on Blair to name the day for his departure.
Blair - once dubbed "Teflon Tony" for his ability to shrug off bad news - would have to muster all his survival skills gleaned from nine years in office to win back the confidence of his Labour Party and the public, observers said.
But a growing band of Labour rebels want him specify when he plans to make way for a new leader - and soon.
These members of parliament (MPs) are gathering signatures on a letter urging Blair to lay out his succession plans by July.
The prime minister has pledged not to stand for a fourth straight term in office at the next election, due by May 2010 at the latest, but has yet to set a public date for standing aside.
"The vast majority of people want what Tony Blair wants himself, what he has said that he wants to achieve, and that is a stable and orderly transition," Chancellor of the Exchequer Brown told BBC television.
"We don't need outriders dictating the agenda."
Asked if he knew when Blair was going to make way, Brown said: "No. Tony Blair has said himself a year ago that he wishes to play his part in organising that stable and orderly transition.
"That's actually not a matter for me because we don't actually know who's going to leader of the Labour Party.
"It's a matter for Tony and the Labour Party themselves. I get on with my job."
Blair has gone through two if his darkest weeks in office, marked by scandals, local election losses and a brutal cabinet reshuffle.
Brown, who has distanced himself from the turmoil dogging the prime minister, believes that Labour's poor showing in the council elections across England was a warning for the party to rejuvenate itself.
A growing body of MPs feels a revamped Labour requires Blair's departure.
About 50 rebels have signed a letter, published in The Sunday Telegraph, which demands a timetable for a "dignified, orderly and efficient" leadership transition to be set out by July.
Quick to defend him, Blair loyalists, many of whom enjoyed promotions in the cabinet shake-up Friday, dismissed the criticism as coming from the same factions that long sought a change of leader.
Blair, for his part, is expected Monday to hold his first news conference since carving up his cabinet.
Political analysts likened Blair's situation to that of former Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who was ousted by her MPs in 1990, part-way through her third term in office and six months after bad local election results.
- AFP
|
News
