Blair finally anoints Brown his successor

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Tony Blair yesterday confirmed he will resign next week - and endorsed Gordon Brown as his successor.

With 48 hours to go before a predicted thrashing for Labour at the ballot box, the Prime Minister surrendered to the inevitable by anointing his long-term rival.

He used a GMTV interview marking ten years since his May 1 landslide General Election victory to say: "I will make my position clear next week. I will say something definitive then."

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Tony Blair said today, on the 10th anniversary of his election landslide, that he will announce next week he is quitting

And at a campaign event in Scotland, Mr Blair lavished praise on the Chancellor, predicting he would be Prime Minister within weeks. The most likely date so far for the handover is July 2.

He told party supporters: 'Within the next few weeks I won't be Prime Minister of this country. In all probability, a Scot will become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.'

He added: "That's someone who has built one of the strongest economies in the world and who I've always said will make a great Prime Minister."

Click enlarge to see Tony Blair's decade

His announcement was the start of a choreographed "long goodbye" designed to revive his long-lost popularity.

It also effectively dispelled the last hopes of Mr Brown's enemies, who had pressed Mr Blair to withhold his support and back a Blairite rival.

Mr Brown has been frustrated by the Prime Minister's refusal to offer a public endorsement, which he believes has destabilised the party.

But there were fears last night that Labour's seven-week timetable for deciding the leadership could prove disastrous for the Chancellor.

Publicly, Mr Brown appeared to bury the hatchet by telling readers of the Sun yesterday that he is "honoured to call Tony my oldest friend in politics".

He set aside their often bitter feud by describing Mr Blair's ten years in office as "some of the most memorable moments and achievements in our post-war history".

But his friends fear that the gap between the Prime Minister's resignation and his actual departure will create a dangerous political vacuum that could sour Mr Brown's first months.

In this week's elections Labour is on course to suffer devastating losses across English councils, in the Welsh Assembly and in particular in the Scottish parliament, where it is expected to lose power to the Scottish Nationalists.

Mr Blair will try to bounce back next Tuesday by travelling to Belfast to mark the restoration of devolved government in Northern Ireland.

He and his deputy John Prescott are then expected to quit formally next Thursday, triggering a seven-week contest to choose their successors.

The process will include five hustings around the country and will culminate in a special Labour Party conference on June 30 to confirm the result. Until then Mr Blair will remain Prime Minister.

Sources said the most likely date for the formal handover of power will be Monday July 2, when Mr Blair will travel to Buckingham Palace to offer his resignation to the Queen.

Barring a political earthquake, she will then summon Mr Brown a short time later and invite him to form a new Government, marking the end of the Blair administration.

David Cameron has pressed Mr Brown to call a snap election when he takes over in order to secure a popular mandate.

He claims the British people are being denied the right to choose their next Prime Minister.

 

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