BRITAIN:Conservative leader David Cameron has challenged new Labour leader Gordon Brown to call a snap general election - while also demanding a referendum on the new European Union treaty.
However, departing prime minister Tony Blair yesterday mocked the Tory leader, suggesting he was "going through the motions" on behalf of a Conservative Party that "does not have a serious policy for Europe", thus showing "they aren't a serious party of government" either.
The exchanges took place during Mr Blair's last but one appearance in the Commons, reporting to MPs on what he described as an "amending" EU treaty "quintessentially" in Britain's interests.
Mr Blair will answer prime minister's questions for the last time tomorrow, before relinquishing his seals of office. Immediately after being formally invited by the monarch to form a government, Mr Brown will then set about appointing a cabinet to take Labour into an election within the next 12 months.
Sunday's announcement that cabinet minister Douglas Alexander is to be his general election co-ordinator sparked a wave of speculation yesterday that - while ruling out a snap poll this autumn - an extended "honeymoon" and favourable poll ratings could persuade Mr Brown to seek his own popular mandate some time next year.
While insisting he would pursue a "relentlessly positive agenda", Mr Cameron claimed Mr Brown had no mandate to replace Mr Blair and urged him to go to the country straight away.
"If Gordon Brown is serious about wanting to listen to the people of this country then he should call a general election right now," Mr Cameron told the London Evening Standard.
"Tony Blair said he would serve a full term but hasn't. Gordon Brown has no mandate to be prime minister and cannot be the change the country needs. People want real change and the next general election can't come soon enough so that they have an opportunity to vote for it."
Accusing Mr Blair of a "flagrant breach" of his manifesto promise, Mr Cameron quoted Taoiseach Bertie Ahern saying that the new treaty contained "90 per cent of the substance" of the original proposed European Constitution. Noting that after this week Mr Blair could no longer be held to account for the commitments he had made, Mr Cameron reminded Mr Brown of his promise to be "humble" and "a servant of the people", declaring that if he meant that "then he must hold a referendum and let the people decide."
Labour MP Kate Hoey asked why the government was "afraid" to put the new treaty to a vote. And her colleague Frank Field suggested Mr Blair advise Mr Brown to commit to a referendum in case Mr Cameron decided to offer such a pledge come the general election.
However, Mr Blair dismissed interventions from the Tory benches, quoting former chancellor Kenneth Clarke saying the Eurosceptics would want "a referendum about a date on the top of a page" as cover for their desire to take Britain out of the EU.
Declaring his four "fundamentals" or "red lines" fully met, Mr Blair said the treaty gave an opt-out on the human and social rights charter while maintaining national independence over foreign policy, tax and social security policy. He added that the new treaty would explicitly confirm that national security is the sole responsibility of nation states.
Mr Brown said on Sunday he believed the British people would not expect a referendum to be held on the treaty, and that referendums were likely only in member countries constitutionally obliged to hold one. Mr Blair told the Commons that Ireland was one of those countries.