Britain:Senior British Labour party figures want the party to develop contingency plans for the prime minister's early departure if charges appear likely in the cash for honours inquiry.
Some ministers and MPs want Tony Blair to announce the date of his departure now to mitigate the damage if the prosecution service decides to prosecute. Others want officials to hammer out a timetable for the resulting leadership election.
Few want Mr Blair to depart before the Scottish, Welsh and local elections in May - despite an ICM/ Sunday Expresspoll suggesting 56 per cent of the public want him to quit now - and allies believe the prosecution service will still be considering charges by the time he announces his exit.
But there is concern that he has not committed himself to leaving immediately after the polls. Colleagues believe he would have little choice but to resign before then if Ruth Turner, his head of government relations, or even Lord Levy, his fundraiser, were prosecuted.
"If he said now that he was going straight after the elections, that would resolve everything," said one backbencher. Northern Secretary Peter Hain told GMTV that Mr Blair's departure now would "torpedo" the peace process ahead of the late March deadline for restoring the devolved executive.
- (Guardian service)