British Prime Minister Tony Blair faced warnings on Monday of the need to avoid a ”corrosive” power struggle as he prepared to take on Labour Party rebels accused of trying to oust him after poor local election results.
Blair was due to tackle the issue of handing over to his presumed successor and long-time rival, Finance Minister Gordon Brown, at a noon press conference and an evening meeting with Labour backbenchers, aides said.
Blair will face many who are angry at his ”ruthless” reshuffle of the Cabinet in the wake of Thursday’s municipal council results, Labour’s worst since it took power in 1997, Labour MP David Hamilton said.
Analysts said Blair carried out the extensive reshuffle to demonstrate his authority and revive his party, but a growing number of Labour MPs say Blair must step down himself and smooth the transition for the party’s sake.
Blair has pledged to complete a third term in power but not stand for a fourth straight term in office at the next general election, due by May 2010 at the latest. The prime minister has refused to specify an exact departure date.
About 50 rebels have now signed up to a draft letter, published in The Sunday Telegraph, which demands a timetable for a ”dignified, orderly and efficient” leadership transition to be set out by July.
And a BBC radio survey of 104 Labour backbenchers found 52 believed Blair should stand down within a year.
Hamilton, a Labour backbencher, said he will not sign up to the letter but insisted change is needed within the party. ”I think there has to be an agreement at the top of the tree that somewhere along the line there has to be a move across,” Hamilton told BBC Radio Scotland. ”My hope would be that that would be at the annual conference, either this year or next year.”
Hamilton said Blair would catch an earful at the Labour meeting on Monday evening.
”There will be anger, and there will be a number of people, probably including myself, who will get up and say that things have to change,” Hamilton continued. ”Changing the Cabinet in the way that it’s been done — a ruthless way — isn’t going to stop the rot, in my opinion.”
The Cabinet reshuffle, aimed at injecting new life into the government, saw the prime minister sack his home secretary, demote his foreign secretary, take powers off his deputy prime minister and juggle other key ministerial posts.
Hamilton complained that Blair is leading ”a sort of evangelical party” that revolves around a small group of individuals. ”Before, it was all about policy and the issues.”
The MP from Scotland said the dissent comes from a broader spectrum than just ministers who have been sacked.
Senior Labour backbencher Clive Betts, speaking on BBC radio, called on Blair and Brown, meanwhile, to work out the handover between themselves to avoid ”corroding the atmosphere” of the parliamentary Labour Party.
It is the only way to ”stop the speculation, stop the disagreement”, he added.
Betts added he does not mind if the resolution is made public or not.
Blair loyalist Jacqui Smith, who was appointed chief whip in Friday’s reshuffle, denied that her job will be about ”containing” rebels, but conceded that there are ”uncertainties and concerns” among Labour MPs.
She told BBC radio that a timetable for Blair’s exit will only suit those who have always opposed his moving Labour from the left to the centre-ground and will play into the hands of the Conservative opposition party.
”They can’t wait to get a date on the wall planner in Conservative Central Office so that they can start planning how to defeat our next leader and prevent us from winning a fourth-term election,” she said. — Sapa-AFP