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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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