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Nothing has been changed by either statement. The skids are under Blair now. He appears to say that not just the junior Ministers are against him but that his Cabinet colleagues have told him that this must be his last Party Conference. He appeared flustered and embarassed which he would normally be seen to rise above, come may, but this may be to garner sympathy from the public and present an excuse for seeming at a loss. To name a date for departure would have made him a lemming. He is snookered.
Brown did the miniumum in supporting Blair. It would have been more statesman-like had he been more generous in his support but this would not have suited him - the longer it takes the more likely some other candidate may seem the most credible successor. What if John Reid makes a success of the Home Office, for example? As Chancellor, it is difficult for Brown to stamp any fresh positive impression in the next few months.
A top candidate for PM would have demanded more all round experience - his credibility on the world stage may have been enhanced if he'd had a stint as Foreign Secretary for example. To stick doggedly to juggling the finances is not a good indication of vision and the ability
to inspire and put policy into practice.
There could be some surprises in the next few weeks!

Blair handled it and did it brilliantly. Democracy 1 Media hysteria 0.

I feel sorry for Blair a little bit. Ministers in his government aren't very good and can't even organise a successful coup.

No wonder policy is so poorly delivered in this country if this is how they behave when a crisis comes.... If they want to get rid of Blair then at least follow it through and don't back off at the crunch moment every time...

Blair should sack Brown for conspiring or for at least in destabilising governence of the country.

I have no respect for Brown as he doesn't have the courage to push the dagger in. For a man who has been in politics his entire life he seems very naive on how to win power.

Changing to Brown will make little long term difference to Labour performance - the Tories and LibDems are bound to keep reminding voters theat Brown is the architect of most domestic policy already....

Still looks like a hung parliament in 2009... Brown, Reid, Johnson, Miliband - none of them can change the likelihood of that.....

I saw a broken man. If he survives to the return of Parliament, Cameron will rip him apart, just like he himself once did Major. He is a gangrenous limb that must be amputated now. His only hope for a shred of dignity would be to admit defeat before his colleagues realise that.

It is quite clear that Tony Blair has stumbled into a crisis entirely of his own manufacture; and not for the first time in recent memory. He has fallen victim to his own inability to shift tactics in his dogged, and increasingly illogical political agenda of cementing a credible legacy, annointing his Blairphile heir apparent, while acting with disdain bordering on contempt for any partisan or bi-lateral organization - be it the Trade Unions, the rank and file of the Labour movement, or increasingly his own Ministers.

It's apparent that it is not his political savvy that has failed him, but more he has succumbed finally to his own hubris, oddly right wing instincts (that have long raised heckles), control fetishism, and his wild-eyed, desperate grab for an iconic legacy at all costs.

Gordon Brown has simply played to his opponents own weaknesses.

Now that's what I call a dead Prime Minister.

No No. He's not dead, He's stunned.

Stunned?

Yes, stunned by all the back-stabbing.

He's a stiff, bereft of life, he rests in peace!

No, he's tired out after a long barney with Gordon.

His metabolic processes are now history! He's off the twig,
kicked the bucket, shuffled off his mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the blooming choir invisible!!

THIS IS AN EX-PM!

This statement made a month ago might have done it. This statement made now is too late. Some people want him gone because of Iraq, others because he appears a poodle to the US, others for lying (not least to Gordon Brown) and yet others just for a change. There's a head of steam now that he should recognise and duck before it gets any worse for him in office. He should also go now, at the people's bidding, because the suspicion and impression that he is riding it out for a timetable of Bush's convenience demean not only his office, but the whole government and country.

Mr Blair must depart forthwith - he is no longer an asset. He is akin to the products sold cheaply in supermarkets as their best before date approaches! When Mr Blair resigns as Prime Minister, British democracy would be best served by the holding of an immediate General Election. The idea of one PM handing on the mantle of power to another of 'Tony's cronies'demeans our democratic heritage.

Please, please give this story? a rest, and we can get back to watching Newsnight again.

Not a chance. After that performance this afternoon Blair is dead meat. He won't last the month out.

I'm English, but I live in the United States. From here, the view is rather different. We visited London two years ago, and happened on Blair in the House managing an emergency debate without notes, and speaking flawlessly for 45 minutes. We concluded we had an intelligent man on our hands. Not so with the U.S. President who delights in his own ignorance and stupidity, and indeed parodies himself. (quite sophisticated thinking) Nonetheless, I share the general view that Blair has shot his bolt and should go. His delay is profoundly selfish and damaging to the country and to the party. Iraq was a lethal mistake, decided on what still seem to be unclear grounds, and his credibility is now utterly undermined. Again a difference from the U.S., where the president still enjoys 40% approval ratings; they went down after Katrina but bounced back)

So Blair goes and Brown takes over. A wooden speaker by all accounts, and the architect of many existing policies. Is this progress for the Labour Party? I'd like to hear some views on this.

Would Gordon Brown have got the Olympics for London? I don't think so.
Would the Labour Party do any better with Gordon Brown, I doubt it. We are told the State should provide but the public are voracious and totally unrealistic, to give what the people ask for would mean raised taxes and they won't stand for that. To build better communities is a far better bet. I don't agree with everything Tony Blair has done such as parental choice for schools, the children of middle class and concerned parents will always do best and you can't stop people moving, but if the local school is the natural place to go concerned parents will make sure it improves. We are suffering from the consequences of Empire. We really need to get rid of all faith schools and insist as the Americans do that everyone learns English, then the women will be freed. All immigrants should understand that when in Rome you have to do as Rome does. Blair's biggest mistake was to say he wouldn't stay for a fourth term. The media are totally irreponsible and have brought about this situation focussing on a few malcontents to sell newspapers or air time.

The damage has been done,his party and the voters feel he should go now,without bloodshed.Saying he will go next year-could this be another LIE,one of so many

Matt Davies (No 7) is correct. It makes one feel utterly ashamed to have this man as PM. He has accomplished none of the things he set out in 1997 and has left the country in a far worse state than when he arrived. Go and go now!

I have no way to prove this, I'm merely an ordinary citizen, but I sense that it was the Israel/Lebanon debacle 'what done it' for Tony Blair.

I think that the parliementary labour party, the cabinet (not least his hapless foreign secretary), the UK population and most of the world, were aghast and horrified by his poodle-stanced 'sustainable ceasefire' nonsense and probably equally horrified by his long summer holiday whilst he gave his tacit support to the wholly unnecessary mass murder of civilians

he should go, but it would be even better if he was prosecuted for war crimes

having said all that, I have always admired how well he rises to any occasion, his speech today was the smartest thing anyone could have said in the circumstances, he didn't come across as mad (Thatcher) or highly peevish (Major), shame he's on the wrong side of every major policy argument though

No, of course not.

It is a 'dodgy statement'!

It's just the latest in the untrustworthy, mealy-mouthed, and self-serving spin we have come to know from him.

I am disappointed in the apparent quality in the so called parliamentarians who are more interested in their personal advancement/ego's than concentrating on governing the country. What difference does it make that we don't have a specific date for the P.M's departure, knowing that he will be leaving office presently. Brown gives me no confidence in his trustworthyness by allowing so-called supporters to do his dirty work for him whilst hiding in the shadows.

It's difficult to imagine what he thinks he can achieve in 12 months given that he's comprehensively failed to deliver anything during nearly 10 years in office. His ministry will be remembered for endless populist spin, the squandering of billions on unreformed public services, the abdication of foriegn policy to Washington and the achievement of precisely nothing of substance. Frankly, just what an utterly apathetic electorate deserves!

It still not good enough for me. I want him to go before Xmas!

Another year to wait is way, way too long even to contemplate.Blair is already irreparably damaged goods, and his continued refusal to go now, is only for the preservation of his selfish ego. The Labour vote in Scotland and Wales in May, will be decimated if he is still around when campaigning starts in earnest. A new leader must be in place before Christmas.
Or is Blair going to surprise us all by spitefully calling a snap general election - not out of the question for this unprincipled man.

I agree with post three - Blair has got a hopeless team behind him. Does the statement go far enough ? - no. Changing faces at the top will make no difference because all the likely successors will continue to make the same mistakes. I didn't vote for Blair the man I voted for a party which I thought likely to deliver fair and just policies...including foreign policy. Until they change their approach in the middle east they'll not get my vote - but then neither will the tories.

As a member of the Liberal Party and its successor since 1945 I am pleased to see Tony decimating the Labour Party: long may it continue. As a responsible citizen, I can only say: in the name of God, go

Early in his reign as Prime Minister, Tony Blair claimed publicly that he could pursuade the UK public into forgoing the 拢 sterling in favour of the Euro. His failure to do so, or even attempt to do so, must have punctured his insatiable ego.

His policy ever since has to embark upon 'new initiatives' yet he lacked the drive or willpower to bring them to fruition. Success in anyone's career can only be measured by worthwhile achievements.

Tony Blair has faile to 'deliver the goods' on countless occasions and, as such, must must be considered an abject failure.

Taking all emotions and allegiances aside, we should not forget that Mr Blair has given us his best shot. No-one should be criticised for doing their best or what they think is best for the majority. Come up with any man or woman who can succeed in this area and please everyone all of the time and I will give you my latest Premium Bond winnings.

It is the worst possible job to hold down. All managers like to be liked (but more importantly, respected) and Mr Blair cannot be criticised in my humble view for'getting it wrong' in the long run if that what he has done.

Only once every billion years (apologies for the exaggeration) does the world throw up a man or woman of the people who pleases everyone, every step of the way.

Best Wishes
Jack Blakemore
Wirral, Merseyside.

Blair is usually strategically brilliant, seeing where the best long-term interests of this country lie; but he has been technically flawed in so many incomprehensible ways. He should never said that he would be leaving office even though it was his intentiion to do so.
He persuaded me to vote for Labour for the first time ever, last year (I still didn't trust Labour until then).
The flirtation is over. I thought that the Tebbit generation of Tories would have to die before I committed to Cameron: but no.
Gordon Brown OR (repeat OR: we can look forward to some Labour blood-letting beyond the current situation) Old Labour: Cameron must be chuckling.

Cannot see why so many people do not like Tony Blair. I think he does what he thinks is right for the country even if an unpopular opinion. Talk about "selling your own granny" which is what a lot of his so called colleagues are doing. They are all thinking of their own skins which could backfire on them if they don't let Tony Blair complete what he feels he needs to do before he hands over.

Mr Blair's performance today was very similar to his "How do we mourn a Princess like Diana?" offering early in his first term.

He apologised on the Labour Party's behalf for the last week or so but fails to comprehend that the current situation is about his leadership of the country.

He no lomger has the staunch supporters who stage managed the backroom in the early years. There are so many blights on his "presidential" premiership that his position is surely irredeemable.

He must see the writing on the wall yet somehow he believes a miracle will happen to change things for the better if he can keep his nerve. Vanity will be his downfall.

Interestingly, he put the good of the country first in his performance today. The Chancellor mentioned the Party first following up quickly that the good of the Country was top priority.

As deep as a puddle, the lot of them.

The Labour Party is paying the price for their cowardly decision to elect Blair as leader of the party ahead of the outstanding candidate after John Smith's untimely demise. They were so terrified at the thought of spending another parliament in oppositon that they were prepared to do the dirty on Brown and give the job to the totally conviction free zone that is Tony Blair, for the sole reason that the nation's middle class housewives thought he looked the part on telly. Anyone who believed at that time that this used car salesman believed in anything other than his own advancement doesn't deserve to be taken seriously now.

the last week shows - yet again - that now is the time to have a serious debate on fixed-term premierships.
it is not right that distinguished parliamentary careers should end in this way, with political giants being pinned down and poked at by pymies.
I am sure that the press and media have a vested interest in supressing this debate; but they could have lovely leadership campaigns and plenty of machinations to report on, without the government of the nation being deflected and lives put at risk in this way.
our democracy needs to be protected by a formal constitution, and the debate must begin.

I will not be satisfied until Tony Blair's premiership is nothing more than a horrific memory. The sooner he is gone the better off we will all be.

Maybe we should take a leaf out of America's book? Fixed terms of 4 years. At the end of 2 terms the current PM must go.

Bye, bye Tony. Your obsession with yourself has brought your permiership to an end.

Tony's done a good job in looking after the country, considering some of the appauling world events during his time as Prime Minister. I don't think there's anyone better than him at present. Uncertain days ahead...?

I admire Blair as a politican and a prime minister, but despite all the promise that he showed the country in 1997 you cant turn back a clock, his time is definitley up and he has to realise that. It's just a shame he couldnt do better things with it.

Blair came off rather weakly, with a rather ill-judged joke about the Unions. Gordon Brown appeared rather uncomfortable, but succeeded in giving an air of dignified detachment which has marked - indeed usually marks - his dealings with a rabid media.

The two statements do not really alter the fact, that as dennis Healey points out, it would simply be better for social democracy in this country if a changeover happened very soon. Blair lacks both moral and political credibility, and the Labour Party , and Blairites in particular, would do well to consider that amphutation of a limb might be better than slow painful gangrene in the slope towards the next election.

The media's tendency to typecast Brown as the dour scot is also regretable. The Government's successes are every bit as much Brown's as Blairs.

I think both Blair and Brown have done exactly the right thing in their speeches. I have been paying attention to what the politicians have been saying, rather than what the media have been reporting. As always, there's a stark difference between the two. If the Labour Party does not pay attention to history, and does not grow up and be adult about this situation, they will be unelectable next time around. The Tories are still in an appalling mess, Cameron is just good at distracting people with glitz, he's got no substance and no policy, he just tailors his speeches to his audience and hopes the voters are too stupid to notice how often he contradicts himself or avoids giving genuine detail or policy. And yet Labour is losing ground and this is mostly because voters listen to media frenzy rather than paying attention to what's really happening. The trouble is, the Labour Party members seem to be doing the same thing.

We need maturity in the Labour Party. Egos need to be put aside. They need to get on with running the country, and letting Downing Street establish a sensible departure strategy for Blair that will work in the Party and country's best interests. The sole reason this hasn't been working so far is because backbenchers and the Press has refused to allow it. That's ego and rating-hunting respectively. Even tonight, I'm watching the media desperately trying to create situations sometimes based on nothing more than the personal opinion of journalists. This is a ridiculous circus for me, as a voter of a so-called Developed Nation, to be forced to witness.

The Labour Party needs to grow and up and act maturely about handling Blair's departure from office - as a voter, I expect maturity from the adults who run my country. By the same token, the media needs to start becoming a force of which I can be proud to be British instead of ashamed as I currently am.

As far as I'm concerned, Blair and Brown have said what needed to be said. The Labour Party needs to support that - for their own sake - if they can't see beyond their own noses about it, and the media needs to respect that.

So far I'm less impressed with the media than I am with Blair and Brown.

For the record, although I've had no gripe with Brown as Chancellor, I really don't like the idea of him as a Prime Minister - that's got nothing to do with the past week, it's something I've felt for years. I would like to see the Labour Party have alternatives: however, whatever decision the Labour Party makes regarding leadership handovers and contests, it needs to be in the best interests of this country. So far the MPs who claim to support either Brown or Blair seem to be the big problem - not Blair and Brown themselves.

Earlier this year,my Son a serviceman, was sent to Iraq for a tour of duty as a result of Blair`s ego. Thank God he returned safely, many have not.The anguish and worry that he put me and my family through will haunt me for the rest of my days.
I am thoroughly enjoying his humiliation.

No 17 has a good point. When the ceasefire broke out, and there was the search for the UN troops to make(?)or more realistically, perhaps, to keep a peace, note our own lack of response.... We had spent all our forces. Even where they are they seem stretched, and Gordon is more than complicit in this. We send out our boys without the backing. It is not so much any mistake to go to war that grates with me, but the short-changing of our armed forces.

Gordon welcomed a new child the other day. Some have had irretrievable losses.

Maggie Thatcher at least knew about commitment for the Falklands War, whatever one might think about that also!

dont suppose you rember me.(fiona jones saga. Blair supported her.)just feel, what goes round, comes round.you should look at that issue again. kind regards.

I am puzzled by the Prime Minister's statement that "we cannot treat the public as irrelevant bystanders on a subject as important as who is their Prime Minister."

Why not, when he was happy enough to do it on a subject as important as going to war?

As a foreigner living in this country since quite a while I think Tony Blair is the best PM Britain ever haid since a long time.
All the discussion when he is leaving and handing over his duties to Gordon Brown is utterly ridiculous and British people should worry about more important issues!

Thanks Tony.

I think you have done a brilliant job as PM and should leave when you decide, personally I would like to see you carry on.

If the labour party continues this blatent back stabbing I will not vote for them. You must have loyalty in a party.

It seems mainly unknown MPs are selling out to get a bit of air time or their photo in the paper, this is disgusting as a lot of them would never of been elected without Tony Blair.

What is without doubt is that Blair has been a complete disaster for this country. He has destroyed long standing traditions, started the privatisation of education and health, destroyed legal safeguards and basic freedoms. We now live in a police state that concerns itself more with placating foreign nationals than with the welfare of the citizens of this country.

Think that is bad? Wait until Brown gets started. You will then see how a centralist dictatorship really works.

I fully expect we will all have to submit a detailed log of our movements and actions each week to the police. This can then be checked against the big brother cameras to ascertain if we are being honest and therefore entitled to the services and benefits our taxes pay for.

A speach for Blair that addresses the issues:

"I have been known as a Born Leader Attempting Illicit Rule... as though every freedom we have created has forbidden those around them.."

"I have been called a liar..they say our future does not lie with me...yet the public knew they wanted the future we could and have created in our own time..not just in heaven but on earth..."

"They have called me a missionary of revenge said we made evil look and feel like goodness to get even, but what revenge have we taken, and where has our mission not been the best it could be?"

"They say I have no guilt even over Iraq... where omnipotence control and their potency of culture kept them proud and lawful..they say that I have legitimised terrorism with the release of POWs of the IRA, that we even supported the Brighton Bombing of the conservative party conference. Some even think 911 was an initiative I supported for the sake of international economy and to defeat the cultural lead of Arabian romance. But this only looks true in history and I am as easily mislead as anyone in my desire for progress and peace, and though the people marched and protested... were the military among them? were they briefed like we were?..No and they never will be!"

"The party.. our party... have plans ...and I want to lead them..my image brought us victory over dissent and reality, the people believed in me even when all was not the way they liked, can you do that, can you??"

"The plans of the party ~ our labour"

NHS: Our people have been unable to get even basic healthcare..manners and private moralities seem to have taken over the basic humanity of caring for those who want to be...we will create a DVD for every ailment sell them in boots..and draw on the knowledge of recovery of the people to create a database of recovery for the people

Police: ASBOs have alienated the very people they are meant to protect..even for arguing with a policeman our labour can and have been arrested. they are turning people into criminals for fun, we will look into recruitment of police and make sure they get more money

Education: boys are being failed in our quest for behaviour... they wont have to behave anymore.. we will let them do what we want and make sure that what they want to do is worthy

Just Taxation: we will increase taxes on the middle class and support all our working classes

Unionism: there have been many ideas for a long time now to help the unions take control of recruitment training and vocational education.We will legally turn recruitment organisations into unions and give them pensions responsibility.

The Labour market: more support for labour is needed in the market.. we will make sure everyone gets feedback from employers and is shown the way to sell themselves properly

"I am proud of what the nation has achieved, I am glad at what we've done, I am sorry that I allowed the fears of the people to rule my head... my heart though weak is still labour and will beat stronger with your support..."

"And lastly I apologise for the defamation of the phrase blue peter badge.."

"Goodbye, don't miss me will you xx"

I am no supporter of Tony Blair or the Labour party, 'New' or otherwise, but whilst I think that Blair's handling of the situation, right from the moment that he said that he would not stand for a fourth term, has been unwise it is really the behaviour of Gordon Brown and his cronies that disturbs me. If Brown so cannot abide the fact that he is not leading the party then he should have stood down from the cabinet long ago and made his views clear from the back benches. As it is he pointedly refuses to support the Prime Minister, and therefore the government, and orchestrates a campaign of disloyalty from the wings. If he really thinks that the electorate are fooled by his duplicitous behaviour then I think he is sorely misguided. I will be happy to see him assume the mantle when the time comes as don't think that an already sceptical public will back him for office come the next election after his disgraceful behaviour to date.

I have sympathy for Blair.
And I have a sneaky feeling that people won't truely appreciate his premiership until later, just like people didn't realise how good Clinton is until there is Bush!

However much I'd like him to go - I did like the little dig at the TUC.

The predictable hysteria on here from those who talk about vast chunks of the country "really hating" Blair can't disguise the fact that he is still surprisingly popular amongst the 'silent majority'. I may not be a fan of evetything he's done (I know I'm not) but his biggest problem has been that the Mail, Express etc and their "readers" have never come to terms with the fact that Labour won in '97. Tough luck... shut up... move on.

I wonder how much 'bad news' has been buried during the last few days while all this Blair/Brown nonsense has been dominating the media!

I think Newsnight buried the "GORDAQ" prematurely. Please resurrect it. I have a feeling that it will be at its most active period in the weeks/months to come.
Also, whatever people say, I hope that the end of Blair's premiership NEVER EVER goes awy from the news. I WANT to see every excruciating moment until he leaves office. He came to power through SPIN. Now let's him lose power through SPIN. Let the games continue !!!

blair looked and sounded in shock. it wasn't the old swagger and articulate tone that has swept around the countryside since '97..
he stammered and stuttered his way through the statement.
not since jeremy paxman's opening question on the general election(april 2005) interview have i seen mr spin so severely spun....

'prime minister is there anything you'd like to apologise for'... priceless