Blair bows to party pressure, says he'll step down but sets no date
Kim Murphy, Los Angeles Times
Friday, September 8, 2006
(09-08) 04:00 PDT London -- Prime Minister Tony Blair moved Thursday to defuse the largest revolt within his party since he took office nearly a decade ago by pledging to step down within the next 12 months.
But showing the type of dexterity that has allowed him to maintain power for so long in the turbulent world of British politics, the leader refused to set a precise timetable for concluding his reign. While some had demanded that he depart quickly, Blair forced challenger Gordon Brown to back down from a public confrontation or risk fatally damaging the Labor Party's prospects in the next elections.
But it was far from a victory for Blair. He was compelled Thursday to start the clock running on the waning months of his administration to head off the rapidly escalating rebellion in the Labor ranks.
"What is important now is that we understand that it is the interests of the country that come first, and we move on," Blair said.
Bowing to the pressure within his party, Blair announced he would not be leading the next Labor Party conference in September 2007, but he stonewalled those demanding a blueprint for an earlier departure. "I'm not going to set a precise date now. ... I will do that at a future date, and I will do that in the interests of the country, and depending on the circumstances of the time."
Brown, the treasury chancellor who has been in line to succeed Blair as Labor Party chief -- and who had reportedly urged Blair to commit to stepping down as early as March -- shunned a public confrontation and instead announced that the decision was Blair's to make.
Blair long ago made it clear he would not stand for a fourth election, but the Labor Party's plummeting poll numbers in the wake of the Iraq war have made Brown and other Labor lawmakers fearful of waiting until 2009 to install more popular leadership.
Still, Brown said he would not, for the moment, be leading a palace coup. "As I have said to him on many occasions, and I repeat today, that it is for him to make the decision," he said.