British Prime Minister Tony Blair pledged on Thursday to quit within a year, but declined to give an exact date to mutineers in his Labour Party who want a speedy change of leader to revive its fortunes.
Blair’s statement came in a tumultuous week that saw his authority crumbling in the face of party revolts after nearly a decade in power and three consecutive election victories.
His popularity has tumbled in opinion polls after government scandals over sleaze and mismanagement were compounded by controversy over the wars in Iraq and Lebanon.
The prime minister said in a televised statement after a visit to a London school that this month’s annual conference of Britain’s ruling party will be his last as leader.
But he said: ”I’m not going to set a precise date now, I don’t think that’s right. I will do that at a future date and I’ll do it in the interests of the country.”
His Finance Minister and expected successor, Gordon Brown, who has had an often tense relationship with Blair, said earlier he would support the premier’s decision but stressed it must be in the interests of the party and the country.
The uncertainty surrounding Blair’s future weighed on sterling, helping push it to a one-month low against the dollar.
By not giving a precise timetable, Blair may not have done enough to quell the worst crisis of his political career and end the party bickering, one Labour lawmaker said.
”Hopefully what those two statements, side by side, say [is] let’s forget about the personalities, let’s talk about the polices and let’s actually do this like grown-ups,” said Labour deputy Stephen Pound.
”The problem, obviously, inevitably, is people will say, well, [within] 12 months could be 365 days or two days, so it won’t have put it to bed. But I hope it will have given a lot of people second thoughts,” he told BBC television.
Labour holds its annual conference later this month in the northern English city of Manchester and party members had been clamouring to know whether it would be Blair’s last.
Hailed as a hero after dragging the Labour Party out of 18 years in the political wilderness, Blair has seen his support ebbing away in a decline mirroring the dramatic slide in Margaret Thatcher’s fortunes at the end of her premiership.
With party colleagues running scared about Blair’s growing unpopularity and losing their jobs at the next election, a junior minister and seven government aides quit on Wednesday after calling on him to step down now.
Blair had already pledged he will not stand at the next election, expected in 2009. — Reuters