Bombshell leak reveals Blair will quit next year

13 April 2012

Tony Blair's exit strategy from Number 10 has been spelled out in a leaked memo written by some of his closest advisers, it was reported today.

The memo describes how Mr Blair should depart from Number 10 in a whirlwind of TV and radio appearances, city visits and photo opportunities including plans to appear on Blue Peter, Songs Of Praise and Chris Evans' radio show, according to the Daily Mirror.

The five-page memo says Mr Blair needs to "go with the crowds wanting more" and adds that he should be mindful the effect his departure will have on the man favoured to succeed him, Chancellor Gordon Brown, according to the paper.

Called "Reconnecting with the public - a new relationship with the media", it was written earlier this year by party guru Philip Gould and others including Mr Blair's director of communications David Hill, the newspaper said.

The revelation comes as a letter is being circulated among Labour MPs urging Mr Blair to resign, according to today's Guardian.

The letter has been drafted from a majority of the 38 Labour MPs elected for the first time in 2001 and was co-ordinated by two former Blair loyalists, Sion Simon and Chris Bryant, the paper said.

Mr Blair has refused to set a date for his departure despite an increasing clamour for him to outline an exit timetable.

But the leaked memo warns: "Time is not an unlimited commodity."

It adds: "As TB enters his final phase he needs to be focusing way beyond the finishing line, not looking at it.

"He needs to go with the crowds wanting more. He should be the star who won't even play that last encore. In moving towards the end he must focus on the future."

It refers to the last month of his premiership, saying, under the heading "Last month": "Needs a daily grid, planned to the last detail.

"As much as possible a farewell tour, looking to the future, making sure the party is in the right place and the public remember him as he should be."

Under a section labelled "threats and opportunities", it refers to the possible reactions of Mr Brown.

It says: "There are specific issues which can provide opportunities and threats. They are: GB's reaction ... the more successful we are the more it will agitate and possibly destabilise him, we need to consider how to deal."

Iraq

Other thorny issues that will need careful handling include Iraq.

The memo acknowledges that Iraq continues to cast a long shadow over Mr Blair's record in office.
It says: "We need to incorporate this into our media plan. It's the elephant in the room, let's face up to it. Most importantly, are we up for it? Is TB up for it?"

Summing up Mr Blair's legacy, it says: "His genuine legacy is not the delivery, important though that is, but the dominance of new Labour ideas ... the triumph of Blairism."

It is said in the memo that Mr Blair will appear on Blue Peter and, according to the Mirror, negotiations are believed to under way for him to go on Songs Of Praise.

The memo also says invitations are being sought to appear on Chris Evans' Radio 2 slot plus six other popular programmes.

Other suggestions include spending a day then an overnight stay in half a dozen cities across the country; visiting the 20 most striking buildings opened or redeveloped since 1997; increasing the number of high-profile tours of schools and hospitals; and avoiding discussing Blair's job offers.

The memo also suggests Mr Blair travel to Wales and Scotland to argue devolution is a success ahead of next spring's elections, gives set piece interviews once a month to foreign newspapers to boost his international standing and proposes "careful" handling how he also quits as MP for Sedgefield in County Durham.

Meanwhile, the contents of the letter reportedly drafted by the Labour MPs have not been disclosed and it is not clear whether it has been sent yet, said the Guardian.

But it is understood to have been organised at the weekend in the wake of Mr Blair's refusal to set an exit date at the Labour conference this month.

The latest development comes as the Prime Minister returns to one of his favourite themes today with a keynote speech in York on social exclusion.

Downing Street said the speech would feature both policy proposals and the philosophy behind them.
Mr Blair's official spokesman said: "What the Prime Minister will be setting out is a way in which we work with those who are socially excluded to try and improve their life chances. That's the key."

Mr Blair sparked controversy last week when he said that problem teenagers could be identified before they were born and that action had to be taken "pre-birth" if necessary.

Yesterday, as he began a two-day tour of England, he defied critics who want him to name a date for stepping down, with No 10 outlining a packed agenda on domestic policy, Northern Ireland and the Middle East.

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