(Observer) I won't quit, vows Blair as cabinet rift opens [View All]

[Anarcho-Socialist]

I won't quit, vows Blair as cabinet rift opens

· Defeated MPs blame leader for poll losses
· Blair reveals 2008 timetable for departure

Gaby Hinsliff, political editor
Sunday May 8, 2005
The Observer

Tony Blair and Gordon Brown were locked in a fierce power struggle last night over the cabinet reshuffle as the newly born partnership stumbled during the first days of the new government.
Within 24 hours of the end of the campaign, the united front adopted by Labour's two most powerful men was cracking over plans to parachute a controversial Downing Street adviser into government - and speculation over the timing of the Prime Minister's departure.

Blair has made clear he has no plans to quit early and has given Brown no date for his departure. The timetable being discussed within his private circle is for him to trigger a party leadership contest in July 2008 and remain as Prime Minister while the succession is resolved, allowing the new leader to take over that autumn. 'The best thing would be to get in at party conference 2008 - that gives you a year to establish yourself but not become overfamiliar,' said a Downing Street source.

The first serious test of the truce between the two men emerged yesterday, over plans to propel Blair's policy adviser Andrew Adonis - an unelected former SDP activist who is widely mistrusted by the Labour backbenches - into government as deputy to Education Secretary Ruth Kelly. He is said to be frustrated that education did not get a higher profile during the election campaign. The Treasury was understood to be fiercely resisting the appointment last night, amid signs that Downing Street was backing down. 'Gordon will never let this happen,' said one well-placed source.

(snip)

The renewed outbreak of infighting comes as defeated MPs who lost their seats on Thursday night blamed the leadership. Jon Owen Jones, who lost his Cardiff Central seat to the Liberal Democrats, said it was because of issues such as Iraq and tuition fees. Asked if there was anything that could have saved him, he said: 'If he had decided to stand down that would have been different. I would have had a good chance whereas, effectively I had no chance.'

edit to add link: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,6903,1479107,00.html

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If this is true it means Gordon Brown has been screwed again. Tony Blair's ego will destroy the Labour Party unless something is done about him. I don't think the Conservatives ever recovered from removing Margaret Thatcher, and I hoped it would never have to come to this - for Labour to forcibly remove their own leader; but it looks like the only option.