Blair: I will quit if I become electoral liability

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/labour/story/0,9061,1213982,00.html

Tony Blair will stand aside as prime minister and make way for Gordon Brown to succeed him as Labour leader if he comes to believe that he is a liability to his party's electoral prospects, he has told close associates.

Despite unpopularity over the Iraq war, Mr Blair remains privately confident that he is still an election winner for Labour and will lead his party into next year's likely campaign.

If unforeseen events were to happen - personal or political - Mr Blair would back his chancellor's claims as the man best qualified to inherit the mantle so long denied him.

Margaret Thatcher's manoeuvres to thwart Michael Heseltine - her obvious successor in 1990 - proved disastrous for her party, Mr Blair has told aides. In any case, he and Mr Brown remain personal friends and political allies - despite their clashes - unlike "Maggie" and "Tarzan", he emphasises.

well seems four weels for Blair to find a new job

gets better.

He's going to build a functioning time machine, travel back and not suck the President's metaphorical cock?

Fuck you Tony. You should be in front of the ICC.

he'll go with the court.

Hey, this is better from him than in the past. I still suspect he will never resign and try to destroy Labor.

Isn't that just a blatant lie?

The supposed Blair/Brown feud is little more than hype if you ask me. Politically the two remain as close as ever.

The feud seems like the dominant meme in the coverage I see.

He'll be in the slammer quicker than any valedictory resignaiton photo-op.

This statement is obviously a move in that direction.

nt

...after all, he's earned it!</sarcasm>

It's very revealing, and shows that Blair's own views are much closer to Bush's than to Clinton's. If fact, there are striking number of similarities between him and Bush. It was very surprising to me, but it makes his seemingly strange support of Bush more understandable.

How convenient for you that you get to decide whether or not you feel that you are an electoral liability?

What an empty offer!

-- Allen

"You already have. Start packing, clown."

Did he support the pre-emptive strike? Does he support pulling out troops after June 30, as the majority of his countrymen desire?

I suppose anyone besides Blair would be an improvement (unless Maggie comes out of retirement). But I'd like to know if Brown would really stand up to the Bushit.

but has kept as quiet as possible about Iraq (since finance is his area, he can get away with this).

Brown's team are said to be very friendly with Kerry's. It's difficult to say what he'd do with Bush - I don't think anyone thought Blair would be such a poodle with Bush until he had the opportunity.

It's a little late, don't you think, Tony? You've already pretty much gutted and disemboweled your party and compromised its credibility for years to come. This guy must live in the same fantasy world the shrub lives in, where the millions of angry protestors and plummeting public approval ratings are ignored and he waltzes along in blissful oblivion, believing that everybody just loves him.

but not since he started sucking bush and company!

a string of controversies has dogged the prime minister, from the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, to a bitter dispute with the BBC over reports that the case for war was "sexed up" and even the suicide of a British weapons scientist.

Blair has also had sharp disagreements with many in the Labor party over domestic issues such as college fees and hospital funding.

So far, Blair has survived. But now, the left-leaning Guardian newspaper reported Wednesday, "normally loyal (members of parliament) believe (Blair's) fate may be spiraling beyond his control."

One loyalist told the Guardian: "This is a complete disaster. Are we going to reach a point where people think we are not fit to govern?"

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/05/12/world/main616975.shtml

In my opinion, British citizens are more knowledgable of current event FACTS and their press is way more honest in reporting news events. Thus I feel Blair will never win re-election, not even close.