Latest Tony Blair Stories

By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Tony Blair's refusal to accept that the war in Iraq has alienated Britain's Muslims is fueling anger in the community and making further attacks by militants more likely, Islamic leaders say. A year after four British Islamists killed themselves and 52 commuters in suicide bomb attacks on London's transport network last July, Muslim leaders say the government has done little to counter home-grown extremism. "If anything the situation...

By Madeline Chambers LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair's deputy, John Prescott, faced an official investigation on Wednesday into his contacts with an American billionaire who hopes to open a massive casino in London. The latest revelations about Prescott, who has also embarrassed his boss by having an affair with his secretary and keeping a free mansion, follow months of allegations of sleaze and mismanagement in Blair's government. Parliament's Standards...

By Katherine Baldwin LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's House of Lords ushered in a new era on Tuesday, abolishing the 1,400-year-old post of Lord Chancellor and for the first time electing a speaker to preside over parliament's upper house. The election of Baroness Helene Hayman, a former Labor government minister, is a staging post in a constitutional shake-up that outraged traditionalists when British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced the plans in 2003. It spells the end of the line for...

By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Tuesday he was trying to engage with Britain's Muslim community but Islamic extremism could not be defeated by the government alone. Blair came under fire for failing to improve relations as a poll showed 13 percent of Britain's 1.6 million Muslims think the four Islamic suicide bombers who killed 52 people in London last year should be regarded as "martyrs." The prime minister said moderate Muslim leaders had...

By Adrian Croft LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair's political woes mounted on Friday when a poll showed he is now less popular than his main rival and his Labour Party suffered a humiliating election setback. The reverses are likely to fuel discontent among Labour legislators, many of whom want Blair -- in power for nine years -- to set a date for handing over to his likely successor, finance minister Gordon Brown. Labour failed to regain a Welsh parliamentary seat...

LONDON (Reuters) - A poll in Britain revealed on Friday that British Prime Minister Tony Blair is less popular than his main rival for the first time in 12 years. Blair also suffered more bad news on the electoral front, with results from by-elections for two vacant parliamentary seats yielding a poor showing for his Labour Party. Pollsters YouGov, in a survey commissioned by the Daily Telegraph newspaper, found 30 percent of Britons thought new Conservative Party leader David Cameron...

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain could scale back its nuclear arsenal now that the Cold War is over, lawmakers concluded on Friday in a report that will set the tone for months of debate over the fate of Britain's nuclear weapons. British Prime Minister Tony Blair has said he will decide later this year whether or how to replace the fleet of Trident missile-carrying submarines that form Britain's nuclear arsenal. The issue has stirred up debate within Blair's left-leaning Labour Party....

By Peter Graff LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's High Court ruled on Wednesday that "control orders" confining six terrorism suspects to partial house arrest breached their human rights, throwing out a key plank of Prime Minister Tony Blair's security policy. Under the orders, terrorism suspects who have not been charged with a crime have been electronically tagged, confined to their houses for most of the day and banned from using computers and telephones or meeting people without...

By Peter Graff LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's High Court ruled on Wednesday that "control orders" confining six terrorism suspects to partial house arrest breached their human rights, throwing out a key plank of Prime Minister Tony Blair's security policy. Under the orders, terrorism suspects who have not been charged with a crime have been electronically tagged, confined to their houses for most of the day and banned from using computers and phones or meeting people without permission....

By Adrian Croft LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair faced a new challenge to his authority on Tuesday when a former senior cabinet minister accused him of losing his "sense of purpose and direction." The outburst by Charles Clarke, a former Blair ally, heightened a sense of division and infighting within the Labor Party after nine years in power which has sent its popularity plunging. Blair, who led Labor to an unprecedented third straight election victory last year,...