The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : I won't quit, vows Blair

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 09, 2005

Opinion

Opinion - News Analysis

I won't quit, vows Blair

Gaby Hinsliff

British Prime Minister reveals 2008 timetable for departure?

TONY BLAIR and Gordon Brown, his Chancellor of the Exchequer (Finance Minister) were locked in a fierce power struggle on Saturday night over the British Cabinet reshuffle as the newly born partnership stumbled during the first days of the new government.

Within 24 hours of the end of the campaign, the united front adopted by Labour's two most powerful men was cracking over plans to parachute a controversial Downing Street adviser into government — and speculation over the timing of the Prime Minister's departure.

Mr. Blair has made clear he has no plans to quit early and has given Mr. Brown no date for his departure. The timetable being discussed within his private circle is for him to trigger a party leadership contest in July 2008 and remain as Prime Minister while the succession is resolved, allowing the new leader to take over that autumn. "The best thing would be to get in at party conference 2008 — that gives you a year to establish yourself but not become overfamiliar," said a Downing Street source.

First test

The first serious test of the truce between the two men emerged on Saturday, over plans to propel Mr. Blair's policy adviser Andrew Adonis — an unelected former SDP (Social Democratic Party) activist who is widely mistrusted by the Labour backbenches — into government as deputy to Education Secretary Ruth Kelly. He is said to be frustrated that education did not get a higher profile during the election campaign.

The Treasury was understood to be fiercely resisting the appointment on Saturday night, amid signs that the Prime Minister was backing down. "Gordon will never let this happen," said one well-placed source.

The spat caps a difficult reshuffle in which the Prime Minister met fierce resistance to several of his planned changes. The renewed outbreak of infighting comes as defeated MPs who lost their seats on Thursday night blamed the leadership.

Jon Owen Jones, who lost his Cardiff Central seat to the Liberal Democrats, said it was because of issues such as Iraq and tuition fees. Asked if there was anything that could have saved him, he said: "If he had decided to stand down that would have been different. I would have had a good chance whereas, effectively I had no chance."

Anne Campbell, a Blairite who lost her Cambridge seat to the Lib Dems despite voting against the war, said the Prime Minister had been a problem on the doorstep. Asked if anything could have saved her, she said: "There were quite a lot of people saying to me if Gordon Brown were Prime Minister I would vote Labour. But it's very difficult to know whether that would have been reality."

Hilton Dawson, who stepped down from his highly marginal Lancaster and Wyre seat but saw his successor lose to the Tories, called for the now widely anticipated transfer of power from Mr. Blair to Mr. Brown to be speeded up. "I personally think that it would be best to start the process of finding a new leadership fairly soon in this parliament, whoever that leader is," he said.

Ministers were trying to judge on Saturday night whether the new outbreak of hostilities represented the end of the pact between the two men agreed to help Labour get re-elected. "The fear is that it's absolutely as we thought: 6 May was going to be the rupture," said one.

The reshuffle announced on Friday night is more widely seen at Westminster as warding off threats to Mr. Blair's grip on the leadership. One aide said it showed that "Tony is going to be around for a while," a message to be reinforced this week by a major speech outlining plans for public service reform.

Putting Douglas Alexander, a protégé of Mr. Brown, into Cabinet as Minister for Europe has in effect tied the Brown camp to the outcome of next year's EU constitution referendum — thwarting the hopes of some backbenchers that if the Government lost it, Mr. Blair would have to resign early.

- Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Opinion

News Update

Stories in this Section

Awaiting a good monsoon

The neglect of small businesses continues

Our common victory and its lessons

Mr. Bush and the Riga axioms

Iraq plunging into sectarian violence

Europe: deciding to look outwards

Enabling rural folk to overcome poverty

I won't quit, vows Blair