Britain's Blair Again Denies He's Quitting

NewsMax ^ | 1/10/05 | AP

[wagglebee]

LONDON -- Prime Minister Tony Blair is facing a new claim that he agreed to resign before the end of his second term to make way for Treasury chief Gordon Brown, but then decided to stay on. He denies it.

The feud between Brown and Blair is the most persistent rumor in British politics. But the latest twist came in a journalist's book alleging that Blair told his chancellor of the exchequer in late 2003 that he would quit before the next election, which is expected this year.

Blair later reversed his position and decided to stay on, prompting Brown to tell him: "There is nothing that you could ever say to me now that I could ever believe," according to the book, "Brown's Britain."

Blair on Sunday denied the claims made in the book by Sunday Telegraph journalist Robert Peston, who has known Brown and members of his inner circle for more than 10 years.

"You don't do deals over jobs like this," Blair said Sunday on the "Breakfast With Frost" program on British Broadcasting Corp. television.

"This is reheated from six or seven months ago," Blair said. "I'm simply not going back over things that I've answered many, many times before."

Brown later sidestepped questions about a rift and urged the government to unite to secure a third term.

"I am not going to be diverted or distracted, nor is Tony Blair, by newspaper stories or books or rumors or gossip," he told reporters.

"The only reason why we are in government is to get on with the job in a unified way," Brown said, stressing he would be "very active" in the election campaign.

There has long been speculation that after Labour Party leader John Smith died in 1994, Brown agreed to withdraw from the race to succeed him in exchange for a promise that Blair, if elected, would step down midway through a second term.

Labour won a landslide victory in the 1997 election and again in 2001. But Blair's popularity dipped sharply in 2003 because of the U.S.-led Iraq war, which Blair said he supported as a means of ridding Iraq of weapons of mass destruction. Such weapons were never found.

Brown has been treasury chief since 1997 and his successful handling of the economy is widely regarded as Labour's biggest election asset. He is sometimes criticized for lacking Blair's charisma but is popular with Labour traditionalists.

If Blair quit, Brown wouldn't automatically take his place, although he would be highly favored to win any vote for Labour Party leader.

Blair has said he intends to serve a full third term if his party wins next time but will not seek a fourth term.

[wagglebee]

I don't know much about Blair's domestic politics (I assume they are fairly liberal), but we need his loyalty and determination in the war against the jihadists.