Blair under pressure from party rebels

By David Clarke

LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Tony Blair was
under pressure on Sunday from parts of his ruling Labour Party
to say when he will throw in the towel after dismal results in
local elections.

A combination of sleaze and accusations of political
bungling hurt Labour badly at the polls last week as councilors
across the country lost seats in local authorities, giving a
resurgent Conservative Party its best result since 1992.

Blair, elected for a third time in 2005, has said he will
not fight another election and British newspapers on Sunday
published a letter from rebel Labour lawmakers calling for a
clear timetable for a handover.

A poll of 100 Labour Members of Parliament showed that
exactly half wanted the prime minister to go and a clutch of
Blair critics in his party called for his head on Sunday
morning chat shows.

“So long as Tony Blair remains prime minister the Labour
party’s position will not recover,” Labour lawmaker Frank
Dobson told the BBC. “These days he is a problem for us.”

However, in a show of unity, high-profile cabinet ministers
and senior party officials hit out at the rebels, accusing them
of plotting a coup and trying to alter Labour’s policies.

Finance minister Gordon Brown, who has long coveted the top
job and is tipped to lead Labour into the next national
election due by mid-2010, led the way by insisting there would
be a smooth handover and a renewal of the party to win back
voters.

“We don’t need outriders dictating the agenda,” he told BBC
television.

“The mainstream position — what the vast majority of the
people in the parliamentary party want, what I want, what Tony
Blair wants, what I think the vast majority of the public will
want — is a stable and orderly transition.”

REBELS

Elected as Labour leader in 1994, Blair dragged a
traditionally left-wing party into the center ground of British
politics and ended 18 years in the wilderness three years later
when he romped to victory.

Labour’s majority was slashed at the 1995 election, partly
due to opposition to the Iraq war, but the Conservatives still
need to make considerable gains to oust them from government.

Blair has been battling a vocal hard core of rebels who
have tried to derail some of his reforms in parliament. But
senior party officials say any change of direction would only
play into Conservative hands and make it harder to retain
power.

Brown, other ministers and party officials said what Labour
must do is woo back voters it has lost, especially in the south
and the capital London, by addressing their concerns.

“My task with others is to develop the policies and the
organization for the future that can give people security, as
well as prosperity,” he said, sidestepping the debate about
whether he should take over.

“It’s not actually about personalities and individuals in
the end,” he said. “We’ve got to be pretty surgical and
scientific about this … and broaden our new Labour
coalition.”

News that foreign prisoners, including rapists, murderers
and pedophiles, had been released without being considered for
deportation, hurt Labour at the local elections last week. A
sex scandal and allegations of sleaze also played a part.

“(Brown) is talking about renewal and he’s absolutely
right,” said former Labour minister Stephen Byers. “Those
people who are organizing the coup against (Blair), they are
playing a very dangerous game, and they should stop.”