Quote :

"Tony Blair began the final countdown to his departure today by promising a resignation announcement next week and anointing Gordon Brown as his successor."

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/tonyblair/story/0,,2069539,00.html

I had thought his plan was to go once he had been in office longer than Thatcher but I think that's still 4/5 months away.

[Edited on May 1, 2007 at 5:29 PM. Reason : ...]

5/1/2007 5:23:50 PM

^ A lot of the Labour MPs have been pushing him to get out. They (rightly) think he's caring more about himself than the party by sticking around.

5/1/2007 6:14:01 PM

Will Bush get a new poodle?

5/1/2007 6:15:29 PM

^ Most likely not. The most likely successor is Gordon Brown, a Scottish liberal, who is currently the UK's version of the Secretary of the Treasury. A majority of Labour members disagree with the war (Labour, if compared to U.S. politics, are pretty much the Democrats minus the farther left members, who are in a party called the Liberal Democrats). Blair's close relationship to George W. Bush is seen as hurting Blair, and Brown, while still being an ally, will most likely be not as close in his relationship.

5/1/2007 6:25:48 PM

Quote :

"They (rightly) think he's caring more about himself than the party by sticking around."

He's led them to 3 election victories, more than any other Labour PM. What exactly has he hurt sticking around, another election doesn't have to be called for four more years, he's withdrawing them from Iraq. His approvals were still higher than Brown's (their economy has been rather stagnant the last couple years and his overeagerness to take over has pissed off a lot of people) or any other potential PM of any party.

Quote :

"Will Bush get a new poodle?"

Blair had to choose between Europe and the US. As much as I opposed the war, he made the best of a difficult situation. He made a mistake in thinking he'd get anything back from Bush, but he wouldn't have gotten anything from the French/Germans either.

Quote :

"Brown, while still being an ally, will most likely be not as close in his relationship."

While on a personal level he has learned from Blair's mistake in trusting Bush, Brown is a pretty big fan of the US and has a lot of ties to prominent Democrats, he is also a lot more traditionalist/Euroskeptic than Blair so will still be pretty close to the US administration of either party.

5/1/2007 8:09:50 PM

Quote :

"He's led them to 3 election victories, more than any other Labour PM. What exactly has he hurt sticking around, another election doesn't have to be called for four more years,"

because he sold his soul, and everyone knows it.

5/1/2007 8:24:31 PM

Tony Blair to step down as Prime Minister on June 27th.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=3155951

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6639945.stm

5/10/2007 8:49:24 AM

Quote :

""I know there's a bit of us that would like me to do a Hugh Grant in Love Actually and tell America where to get off," he said. "But the difference between a good film and real life is that in real life there's the next day, the next year, the next lifetime to contemplate the ruinous consequences of easy applause." - Blair "

5/10/2007 11:50:09 AM

^^^you people really make me laugh.

5/10/2007 1:51:04 PM