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Blair’s long goodbye ends on May 9
Blair’s long goodbye ends on May 9
exclusive Our Downing Street insider lays out the programme for Tony Blair’s last days in power
Tony Blair will finally announce his departure to the media on Wednesday May 9, triggering the Labour leadership succession. Weather permitting, he will tell us his decision on the Downing Street lawn.
The Mole can exclusively reveal that senior cabinet ministers including John Prescott are already clearing their diaries. It will be just over eight months after the rebellion, by Labour ministerial aides and MPs, that precipitated Blair's decision to go.
A May 9 announcement will mean Blair leaving Number 10 for the last time at the end of June, 10 years and eight weeks after taking office.
Blair will be able to attend his final EU and G8 summits before going. The disappointment will be that he will not be able to match Thatcher's 11 and a half years as PM.
The announcement will kick-start the seven-
week leadership campaign agreed recently by the Labour party's national executive.
Contenders for the leadership will have one week to put forward their names - and they must be nominated by at least 44 Labour MPs. At the moment it's unlikely that any challenger to Gordon Brown from the left or right of the party - including Charles Clarke, should he go for it - can secure that number.
Regardless of whether a Blairite challenger emerges, there will be six weeks of campaigning including hustings across the country for the deputy leadership. Voting - by MPs, party members and affiliated trade unions - will take place over the final three weeks.
The results will be announced at a special weekend party conference, probably on June 30. Gordon Brown would then go to the Palace in the week of July 2, becoming the thirteenth prime minister since the end of World War Two.
He would then have just three weeks in his new office at Number 10 (he already lives upstairs) before Parliament rises for its summer recess on July 26.
FIRST POSTED APRIL 20, 2007
The First Post
Blair’s long goodbye ends on May 9
exclusive Our Downing Street insider lays out the programme for Tony Blair’s last days in power
Tony Blair will finally announce his departure to the media on Wednesday May 9, triggering the Labour leadership succession. Weather permitting, he will tell us his decision on the Downing Street lawn.
The Mole can exclusively reveal that senior cabinet ministers including John Prescott are already clearing their diaries. It will be just over eight months after the rebellion, by Labour ministerial aides and MPs, that precipitated Blair's decision to go.
A May 9 announcement will mean Blair leaving Number 10 for the last time at the end of June, 10 years and eight weeks after taking office.
Blair will be able to attend his final EU and G8 summits before going. The disappointment will be that he will not be able to match Thatcher's 11 and a half years as PM.
The announcement will kick-start the seven-
week leadership campaign agreed recently by the Labour party's national executive.
Contenders for the leadership will have one week to put forward their names - and they must be nominated by at least 44 Labour MPs. At the moment it's unlikely that any challenger to Gordon Brown from the left or right of the party - including Charles Clarke, should he go for it - can secure that number.
Regardless of whether a Blairite challenger emerges, there will be six weeks of campaigning including hustings across the country for the deputy leadership. Voting - by MPs, party members and affiliated trade unions - will take place over the final three weeks.
The results will be announced at a special weekend party conference, probably on June 30. Gordon Brown would then go to the Palace in the week of July 2, becoming the thirteenth prime minister since the end of World War Two.
He would then have just three weeks in his new office at Number 10 (he already lives upstairs) before Parliament rises for its summer recess on July 26.
FIRST POSTED APRIL 20, 2007
The First Post
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