Lukewarm Response for Blair Statement As Welsh Rebels Urge Him to Quit Earlier

Summary

---

The uneasy truce at the top of the Labour party was already looking shaky last night as Welsh Labour rebels insisted Tony Blair had to go sooner rather than later. Mr Blair said yesterday that he would leave office in the next 12 months and declined to name a specific date. But the pressure began building again within hours of his announcement with some MPs urging him to go well before next summer.

Although Cabinet Ministers urged the party to draw a line under the affair and get on with the tasks of implementing policy, several MPs said he should go soon.

See the full content of this document

Extract

---

Lukewarm Response for Blair Statement As Welsh Rebels Urge Him to Quit Earlier

And while some Blairites were suggesting Mr Blair would try to stay on until just after the Assembly elections next May, others in Whitehall last night hinted he may go in the autumn, possibly before the Queen's Speech on November 15.

Mr Blair's hesitant but carefully-worded statement said this month's Labour party conference would be his last, and it is thought unlikely that he would carry on as effec...

See the full content of this document

---