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Blair 'to fire deputy PM'
09/07/2006 14:28 - (SA)
London - British Prime Minister Tony Blair intends to replace his scandal-hit deputy, John Prescott, with environment minister David Miliband, according to press reports on Sunday.
Blair was hatching a plan to appoint Miliband before heading off on holiday next month, should Prescott resign during the next few weeks, The Sunday Telegraph said without naming its sources.
The paper added that Blair's aides were keen to avoid a "nightmare scenario" of Prescott assuming responsibility for running the country - while facing allegations of extra-marital affairs and of links with a US gambling tycoon bidding to set up a London casino.
Meanwhile, The Sunday Times reported that Miliband, 40, would become deputy prime minister following the Labour Party's annual conference in September.
In the meantime, and in the event of Prescott's resignation, Prescott could be replaced temporarily by Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett or Leader of the Commons Jack Straw, the newspaper added.
However, Blair would not sack Prescott, according to the Sunday Times.
"He (Prescott) thinks the people around Tony want to kill him off," the weekly paper quoted a Downing Street source as saying.
"Tony won't sack him (Prescott) because he knows John could divulge all the secret discussions with Gordon. He has to go of his own choosing."
British finance minister Gordon Brown is widely tipped to take over from Blair, who has pledged to step down before the next election, due in 2010.
Meanwhile, a parliamentary inquiry was launched last Friday into Prescott's links with US billionaire Philip Anschutz, who is involved in plans to build a super-casino at the Millennium Dome in Greenwich, southeast London, acquired by the Anschutz Entertainment Group in 2002.
According to the Mail on Sunday, Prescott was alleged to have been presented with gifts during in July 2005 visit to Anschutz's ranch in Colorado.
They included a "lavish Wild West outfit" which comprised a pair of tooled leather cowboy boots, a Stetson hat and a belt bearing the deputy prime minister's initials, JP, on its silver buckle, according to the newspaper.
Prescott has denied any suggestion of improper influence after revealing last week that he had met seven times with Anschutz, culminating in a stay at the tycoon's ranch.
Prescott, who lost much of his credibility in April after owning up to an extra-marital affair with a secretary, has also tried to distance himself from rumours circulating on the Internet of other flings.
- AFP
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