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 to hell with tony Blair
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12.05pm update
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Blair announces retirement
Matthew Tempest and agencies
Thursday May 10, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Tony Blair arrives in Sedgefield on May 10 2007. Photograph: John Giles/PA.
Tony Blair today announced he will stand down on June 27 after 10 years as prime minister and 13 as Labour leader.
He will stay on as PM and acting Labour leader until a successor is elected by Labour MPs, trade unions and party members in around seven weeks' time.
The PM had first confirmed to cabinet he would announce his plans to step down as Labour leader and prime minister earlier today, joking it was "not quite a normal day".
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Mr Blair arrived in his Sedgefield constituency just after 11.20am, where he was ecstatically greeted by several dozen supporters at Trimdon Labour club.
Earlier this morning, at a cabinet meeting that lasted just 15 minutes, the chancellor, Gordon Brown, intervened to praise the "unique leadership" of his colleague - and rival.
The meeting ended with the entire cabinet "thumping" the table in appreciation, according to Mr Blair's official spokesman.
He added: "Just as cabinet was breaking up, the chancellor intervened. He acknowledged Mr Blair could rule him out of order, but said he didn't think it would be right to finish cabinet without thanking and appreciating the premier for his unique achievements in the last 10 years."
Mr Blair's official spokesman said the premier did not disclose a date for his departure from Downing Street after a decade in power.
His public announcement on his plans for the future will come in a speech at Trimdon Labour Club in his Sedgefield constituency around noon.
Mr Blair's official spokesman said: "The prime minister started cabinet by acknowledging that it wasn't quite a normal day. He confirmed that he would be going to his constituency. He confirmed that he would make an announcement.
"He also confirmed that announcement would be about his intentions and that those intentions had not changed."
While Mr Blair flew to the north east, the likely next prime minister was in the Commons, answering Treasury questions.
He joked that "There are, of course, 600,000 vacancies in the economy - there's one more today actually as a result of announcements that have just been made," he quipped to laughter from all sides.
The two leftwing challengers for the Labour leadership, John McDonnell and Michael Meacher, will announce this afternoon which, if either, of them has the required 44 nominations to mount a challenge.
Tributes have already started flowing in to the departing 54-year old prime minister, whose future plans are not yet clear.
Former US secretary of state Colin Powell said Mr Blair had "an enormous impact on world politics, and he certainly has had an enormous impact on the special relationship between the United States and Great Britain.
"He has been a friend, he has been steadfast in the face of negative public opinion, and in the face of crises he's stood steady. And we could always count on him."
Although he is expected to endorse Gordon Brown as his successor tomorrow, it is not even clear if Mr Blair will stay on as a backbench MP, or create a byelection in Sedgefield.
Lindsey German, convenor of the Stop the War coalition, said: "We cannot let this day pass without marking the deadly legacy of Tony Blair with the war in Iraq, but this is about the future as well."
Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats demanded an immediate snap election to legitimise Mr Blair's successor.
The party leader, Sir Menzies Campbell, has tabled a Commons motion calling on the Queen to dissolve parliament immediately, since Mr Blair promised to serve a "full third term" in 2005.
Mr Brown, facing a financially straitened Labour party and poor polls, is highly unlikely to grant that request
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 Re: to hell with tony Blair (Re: Mustafa Mahmoud)
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at last the fall of the war criminal tony Blair
i sincerely hope he will rest in the dust bin of history as the blood of the iraqi and the palestinian children will haunt him until he goes eventually to lasting hell
all tyrants and killers deserve to be humiliated
and here is one
we all know who is next to go
the kid bush the biggest terrorist on earth
dr mustafa mahmoud
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 Re: to hell with tony Blair (Re: Mustafa Mahmoud)
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after all the humiliation tony Blair suffered he is now kicked out of no 10 downing street
i am sure all freedom lovers and those who are against the Iraqi war are celebrating today across the UK
here goes down one war criminal
i hope the rest will follow
dr mustaf
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 Re: to hell with tony Blair (Re: Mustafa Mahmoud)
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tony Blair the war criminal was forced out of office
and i hope the rest of his war criminals will follow like John reed and co
to hell tony and i hope the blood off the Iraqi and palestinian children will haunt you until you die
dr mustafa mahmoud
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Re: to hell with tony Blair (Re: Mustafa Mahmoud)
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On the debit side, there is one overwhelming red figure - Iraq. Blair keeps insisting that history will give the verdict on Iraq, but we can already say this with confidence: Iraq is a disaster. To describe it as a case of liberal interventionism is the greatest disservice anyone could do to the cause of liberal interventionism. We went to war on a false prospectus about weapons of mass destruction and without proper authority, either legal or political. The failure to prepare for the likely consequences was a disgrace. It would be difficult for things to be worse than they were under Saddam Hussein, but they now are. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed or maimed, and there is no end in sight. US intelligence agencies say Iraq has become a breeding ground for a new generation of terrorists. The hundreds of billions of dollars squandered on the war and occupation could have bettered the lives of many of the world's poor.
Drawing away troops from Afghanistan when the job there was only half done, we have created two failures instead of one possible success. The Shia-Sunni rift has been inflamed across the Muslim world. The theocratic dictatorship of Iran has been greatly strengthened. The moral authority of the US is in tatters, and that of the United Kingdom dragged down with it. Iraq has alienated Muslims everywhere, including our own fellow citizens. Need I go on? This is the most comprehensive British foreign policy disaster since the Suez crisis of 1956.
Iraq also exposed the weakness of another strand of Blairite foreign policy - the attempt to influence American policy by working privately through the corridors of power in Washington, while avoiding all public disagreement. This is what I call the Jeeves school of diplomacy, and it has failed. Britain alone is no longer big enough to sway the hyperpower, especially if Washington thinks British support can always be taken for granted.
What the US needs is a friend big enough that Washington has to listen to him. That friend can only be a strong EU, speaking with a single voice. Here's the third key failing of Blair's foreign policy, one he himself almost identified when we spoke. To achieve that European voice requires the full commitment of Germany, France and Britain; but Britain's European policy is drastically constrained, if not actually dictated, by our Eurosceptic media. Blair saw the problem clearly, but he never dared to face down the unelected newspaper proprietors and editors on whom New Labour has depended so heavily.
The point of this balance sheet is not merely to write instant history, it's to learn from the failures as well as the successes. Three lessons emerge. First, never again must the flag of liberal interventionism be so abused. All the many peaceful forms of liberal intervention must first be exhausted. For the last resort of military action, we must have just cause based on facts, not fiction dressed up as secret intelligence, and proper legal, democratic and multilateral authority. And we must be prepared for the long haul afterwards. Second, only a strong Europe, speaking with one voice, can be the strategic partner that the US badly needs. Third, in order to get that strong Europe, the British prime minister must face down the unelected press barons who currently dictate Britain's European policy. So let Gordon Brown learn the right lessons from his neighbour's chequered history.
timothygartonash.com
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Mustafa Mahmoud
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تويتر
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