Tony Blair is set to say good bye on Thursday when he will resign as Labour leader, setting the wheels in motion for an election.
LONDON: There is growing speculation in political circles that Tony Blair will officially announce his departure from the Prime Minister’s office on Thursday.
Blair, who completed 10 years as prime minister last week, is expected to first make the announcement to his colleagues at the regular weekly Cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street on Thursday before flying out to his constituency in County Durham to make the public announcement.
It is believed that Blair will tell the Queen at his regular weekly audience at Buckingham Palace later on Wednesday. Even if Blair makes the announcement on Thursday, he will actually not step down until July. The announcement will trigger a process that will result in the handover of power. Labour Party’s ruling National Executive Committee has laid down a seven-week process to elect a successor to Blair. A special party conference, probably by the end of June will name the new leader. Blair will then be driven to Buckingham Palace on July 2 to hand in his resignation to the Queen with the Seals of Office.
Labour’s Deputy Leader John Prescott has already announced that he will be stepping down with Blair, and so the party will be electing a new deputy leader too. It is also expected that a host of ministers will also resign soon after to allow the new Prime Minister to choose his own Cabinet.
The news of Blair’s possible announcement was met with disdain among the public. “Goodness this must be the most heralded unannounced announcement in history. You mean there might be members of his Cabinet who don’t know he’s going?” said Robert of Milton Keynes on the Internet. While Mike Randall of Worcester suggested “we must make sure that tomorrow is declared a national holiday — we can call it GR day — good riddance day!”
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