Friday, March 17, 2006

Blair-must-go watch

With Tony Blair's premiership now holed below the waterline, I'm going to be keeping a fairly regular watch on this blog on what the MainStream Media and also other blogs are saying about his survival prospects.

First up is the Economist which says in an editorial that the Prime Minister would be better-off leaving office soon rather than getting into an increasingly destructive scrap with his party over public service reforms.

In today's Guardian, Polly Toynbee argues that the loans-for-peerages affair and Wednesday's schools rebellion should be seen as a warning to Mr Blair to make peace with his party and retire with good grace, although interestingly the paper itself doesn't yet go that far.

Meanwhile king of the tipsters Guido Fawkes is putting his money on an autumn departure, around the time of the Labour Conference, and after his brilliant call on the Lib Dem leadership election, who are we to disagree?

For my part, I first called on Mr Blair to go in the wake of the David Kelly affair in 2003 and he rather disappointingly failed to heed my advice, but I'm going to have another go in my columns and podcast this weekend which as ever will be available here on Monday.

As to what I actually think will happen...while I've always maintained that he will go on or around the 10th anniversary of his coming to power, in May 2007, I am seriously beginning to wonder whether he can hang around till then without doing very serious damage to the Labour Party.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I really like your blog. I used to update www.molly-filler.blogspot.com regularly but haven't had a chance regularly since last year.

Keep up the good work!

Tommy said...

Personally I dont think Tony Blair should leave. Why should he be able to scuttle away to a big fat pension and some highly paid job in the EU somewhere without sorting out the mess he has made of the UK. He should be made accountable for every error he has made, every penny wasted and every life lost in Iraq... In my opinion.

skipper said...

Loath to leave yet another comment on one of your posts in case you think I'm a stalker, but I think Blair is currently aiming to stay until the full ten years and then go. Of course events may intervene but he is at least aiming for that goal. He is still loving the job, no matter how excoriating it may be. And getting rid of him via the constitutional route is so ballsaching it won't happen.

Bob Piper said...

I hate you Johnny-come-latelys. I first called for Blair to go a full nine years before that.

Anonymous said...
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