British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Thursday received a standing ovation and ringing praise from his senior ministers as he chaired an emotional last Cabinet meeting before leaving office.
Among the tributes paid was one from incoming premier Gordon Brown, who told Blair that his achievements in office had transformed the country in the last 10 years.
”Whatever we achieve in the future will be because we are standing on your shoulders,” the finance minister said, according to Blair’s official spokesperson.
Blair (54) officially leaves office on June 27, three days after handing over the leadership of the governing Labour Party to 56-year-old Brown.
He responded to Brown’s praise by saying Brown had the qualities to make a good prime minister and he would have his ”unswerving support”, Blair’s spokesperson told reporters.
”He finished by saying that this was ‘the right time to go’,” he added.
The spokesperson said the meeting, which lasted about an hour, was a ”good humoured” and ”very affectionate” occasion, the likes of which he had never seen before.
”The only way to bring the standing ovation to an end was for him to leave the room,” he added.
”The chancellor [of the exchequer, Gordon Brown] said that people would look back in 100 years’ time and see the achievements of the prime minister, which had changed this country for good,” he said.
Those ”historic achievements” included bringing peace to Northern Ireland, his response to the suicide bomb attacks in London in 2005 and his efforts through the Group of Eight to tackle global poverty, Brown is said to have added.
Brown also praised the introduction of the minimum wage and the ”fairness agenda”, particularly civil partnerships giving same-sex couples similar rights to heterosexuals, and his transformation of public service.
Brown — who has had an often fraught relationship with Blair in the last decade — said he had been ”proud to serve him”, the prime minister’s spokesperson said.
Blair’s former foreign secretary Jack Straw, now leader of the lower House of Commons, also praised his boss, saying ”history would look back on him as one of the most successful prime ministers ever”, he added.
He was presented with a leaving gift, paid for by his colleagues, of a painting of his country retreat, Chequers.
Deputy Prime John Prescott, who also steps down next week, was given similar praise and received a print of Admiralty House, in central London, where he has an apartment as a perk of his job.
When the Cabinet meets again next Thursday, Brown is expected to embark on a wide-scale reshuffle of senior ministers.
Blair prepared to walk away from EU treaty deal
Meanwhile, Blair said on Thursday he was prepared ”to walk away from a deal” on a European Union treaty if London’s concerns went unaddressed, his spokesperson said.
Blair made the remarks to his Cabinet before leaving for tough negotiations in Brussels on a treaty aimed at streamlining decision-making among the 27 EU member countries.
Blair insists he will not cede national control over foreign policy, Britain’s judicial and police system or tax and social security rules, and has also refused to give legal force to an EU charter of fundamental rights.
”The prime minister reiterated those four red lines, and said that all four would have to be achieved otherwise he is prepared to walk away from a deal,” his spokesperson told reporters.
The spokesperson added that both Blair and Brown had spoken by telephone to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was ”fully aware” of the British position.
Germany, which holds the six-month rotating EU presidency, is determined to use the Brussels summit to put the bloc on the road to a new treaty to replace the draft constitution that was rejected two years ago by voters in France and the Netherlands. — Sapa-AFP