BRITAIN: Tony Blair yesterday tried to take the heat out of the power struggle transfixing the Labour party by committing himself to give his successor time to bed down and prepare for the next election, but he refused to bow to demands to give a public timetable for this transition.
Making his first remarks since what he described as bad local election results, he used a hastily arranged press conference at Downing Street to assert his waning political authority.
In a pitch for the mainstream Labour opinion, he drew a distinction between those MPs using the council losses to swing the party away from New Labour, and those genuinely concerned that he honour his commitment to his successor.
He said: "It is clear there are those who just genuinely want me to honour the commitment to a stable and orderly transition - and I repeat I will honour it, with the time plainly needed for my successor to establish himself - there are also those whose desire is to change radically the direction of policy and not to renew New Labour but to reverse it.
"That way lies not a fourth-term victory but a defeat and a return to opposition and I will fight that all the way."
His remarks overall were noticeably more emollient than some of the attacks mounted by his allies at the weekend. The attacks infuriated those on the left demanding that the party's national executive be drawn into the discussion on a timetable.
One group has been circulating a letter giving Mr Blair until July to agree the timetable, but such an approach is seen as a last resort. This group claimed Mr Blair treated the party as his personal fiefdom.
Mr Blair refused to give a public timetable arguing it would paralyse the government, a view not shared by supporters of Gordon Brown. From other remarks in the press conference, he appears to be thinking about standing down next summer, the 10th year of his premiership, rather than the autumn of 2008, the date he might prefer.
He stressed his full agenda including a spending review this summer and legislation that will be in the next Queen's speech this autumn. He also indicated he had ideas about how Labour policy in health and education could be taken to a next stage, mainly with a new generation of politicians.
He also implied he was taking the unpopular decisions now, so making it easier for his successor to gain electoral support. He said: "The key to winning the next election is taking the difficult issues now on the health service, schools, welfare and pensions, nuclear power and lay the platform for a fourth election victory."
He repeatedly stressed that Labour, just one year after the election, needed to get back to the business of governing. He said he had the interest of the Labour party at heart, but they were not served by "this perpetual distraction".
Mr Blair added: "There are real issues out there that concern people. They will not thank me or my party if instead of concentrating on those issues, we engage in endless speculation about when during this parliament I stand down. If we want to win a fourth term, we should concentrate on governing because I think most people out there are fed up with the endless speculation."
Mr Blair insisted that the chancellor, Mr Brown, was still his choice to succeed him. "Of course he is. When have I ever said anything different? That is why I suggest everyone calms down and lets us get on with the business of governing." He also sought to ridicule suggestions that a Brown premiership will be politically different from his own.
- (Guardian)