Blair refuses to give departure date

Children outside the school gates chanted 'It's time to go' to Tony Blair
13 April 2012

Under-fire Tony Blair today confirmed that the Labour Party conference next month will be his last as leader but refused to name a date for his departure.

He acknowledged that the events of the past day - which has seen a number of Cabinet members unite to effectively oust him - had not been Labour's finest hour.

See also:

•Blair's statement in full
•Who's who is the Labour leadership line-up

• Gordon Brown scents victory as Blair suffers massive revolt

• Tony Blair to leave on May 31st

• Who is plotting Blair's downfall?

• Peter Oborne: If Labour can't get rid of him now, it'll soon be time for the men in white coats

• The man behind Blair's image

• Labour's obsession with memos and image

• Gallery: Blair and Brown's battling body language

• Blair and Brown's battling body language

Mr Blair, speaking at a school in north west London, 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 will do that in the interests of the country."

He also apologised to the country on behalf of the Labour Party "for the last week".

He said he would have preferred the terms of his departure to be "in my own way, but it's been pretty obvious from what many of my Cabinet colleagues have said that the next party conference in a couple of weeks will be my last as party leader."

He went on: "I think it's important for the Labour Party to understand that it's the public that comes first and it's the country that matters and we can't treat the country as an irrelevant bystander in a matter as important as who their Prime Minister should be."

Mr Blair arrived at the Quintin Kynaston School in St John's Wood, north west London, at 2.15pm and was greeted by a few dozen demonstrators chanting: "Blair out, out, out."

The Prime Minister left at exactly 3pm, again smiling and waving to the cameras gathered outside the gates. However his announcement failed to quell the discontent among Labour MPs over his leadership.

Doug Henderson, a close ally of Gordon Brown, said it was not clear that the electorate now knew any more about the Prime Minister's intentions than they did before his statement.

Mr Henderson said: "It does not seem to me that the public know any more about the Prime Minister's retirement plans. People keep saying to me that the Labour Party must have a clear direction forward with clear priorities and a new leader before the elections in 2007."

Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain backed the Chancellor, adding that it was "right" that he should succeed Mr Blair when he stands down. He went on to call for an "orderly handover" of the leadership and not a "chaotic putsch".

Mr Hain said: "Both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown are class acts, and I have no doubt that when the time comes next year, the party will choose Gordon to succeed Tony - and it's right that he should.

"After a difficult week, it is now time for us to get back to work and to focus not just on the task of securing an unprecedented fourth term, but also on delivering the third-term policy agenda on which we were elected only last year.

"Implementing those policies means an orderly handover, not a chaotic putsch. We were elected on a programme of government, and we owe it to the voters to deliver it, not to engage in prolonged navel-gazing."

It emerged this morning that Mr Blair is now willing to quit on 4 May next year - three days after he notches up 10 years in power.

In a peace offer to his warring party, he is prepared to take the hit for any losses in Scottish and Welsh elections being held the day before.

Chancellor Gordon Brown said it was right for Mr Blair to decide when he would leave Downing Street and he would "support him in the decision he makes".

That would be announced in February, leaving Mr Blair to retire with dignity and the historic achievement of a full decade at No10 under his belt.

Crucially, the plan is believed to be acceptable to Gordon Brown, unlike other reported dates.

A source revealed to the Evening Standard: "It is a date that is ringed in the calendar as highly possible."

A senior source indicated to the Evening Standard that Mr Blair was leaning towards a firm announcement in February that he will resign formally on the day after the 3 May elections, which also cover town halls in England.

"There will be no timetable today but the way he is thinking will be clear," said the source.

Another insider said: "A February announcement would stop those elections from becoming a referendum on Blair himself and could help our result.

"This is not a deal and neither Blair nor Brown are going to sign private agreements. But it looks acceptable to the big players."

It may not satisfy panicking Scottish and Welsh MPs, however. They want a new leader before their elections."

Cabinet ministers today went out of their way to talk up Mr Brown as the next leader, in contrast to headlines and TV reports last night that the pair were fighting like cats and dogs and rumours of a "stop Brown" campaign by Blairites.

Commons leader Jack Straw stated he did not believe claims that Mr Brown had orchestrated a plot to oust the Premier.

He also ruled out a late summer handover of power next year, saying there would be a new leader "before the summer break, not after it". He added: "People can work backwards from that."

In words that virtually confirmed a May resignation, he recalled Mr Blair's pledge to serve a full third term - but said it had been wrongly interpreted to mean 2008 or 2009: "I think the nation expects that that at least means he takes it to the half-way point of a normal four-year parliament." A 4 May departure would be almost exactly two years after the last election, 5 May 2005.

Sources say a fast six-week campaign would give the Chancellor a month in which to make his name in the Commons before the recess, issue new legislation, and be seen to "hit the ground running".

In an interview with the New Statesman, Environment Secretary David Miliband - the first minister who confirmed Mr Blair would go in a year - called for an "energising, refreshing transition" to Mr Brown.

Communities Minister Ruth Kelly declared: "I think the natural successor should be Gordon Brown, who has been a powerful figurehead of New Labour, but that has to be done in a stable and orderly way." She added: "The minority of MPs calling for [Mr Blair's] resignation were completely wrong and disloyal."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in