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If this is a pathetic attempt to win back Scottish voters then he really has lost the plot. Brown will not only be more of the same but much worse. It is well known that Blair has stopped a few of his more draconian measures in the past. This election is reaching farcical proportions, my list is bigger than yours, McConnell begs for votes, now Blair, please do not give me a kicking and spoil my legacy. Not only will we do that but we are determined to draw a line under the old boys network in Scotland. Dundee University ring any bells?

Bye then - and good riddance. His clone Gordon will be no better and will lead Labour to a stunning defeat in a couple of years time. I joined the Labour Party & YS in 1976 when I was 18. I voted Labour all my life until the second Gulf War. My mother sat on the NEC of a major union, voting Labour from 1959 until 1995. She stopped voting Labour as soon as TB became leader believing his selection was a major mistake for the Labour movement and that Labour had picked him solely to win as opposed to being true to the cause. I know loads of people who were lifelong Labour supporters who won't vote Labour ever again because of Blair, Brown, Mandleson and the rest of the Nu-Labour farce.

I'm not sure anyone (outside the media bubble) gives a hoot any more about when TB goes, it's been trailed for so long. As for any goodwill for Gordon Brown to inherit, I think Blair has used all that up in dragging out his departure.

I wonder if Blair's reference to the 'Scot' is really aimed at middle England??

God save us all from Gordon Brown. The only good thing he has done is to handover interest rate policy to the Bank of England. Looking at the whole sorry mess thereafter it is taxation, taxation, taxation and retrospective taxation, incompetent spending, failure to stamp out VAT fraud, fraud in his key policy of family tax credits, the desctruction of the UK pensions industry and stalinist control freaks throughout the civil service.

If Gordon Brown had been the finance director of any British company he would have been sacked long ago.

I can only hope that the Scottish nationalists do get independence for Scotland then perhaps we can respond by preventing any Scot from serving as Prime Minister

What a political outrage. We do not want Gordon "Grabber" Brown as a PM. It is time for a GENERAL ELECTION and if we do not get one, we WILL respond accordingly.

Well I hope Mr Brown enjoys his time as PM because it could well be one of the shortest terms ever. Who on earth would actually vote this man into power. His only chance has been to have it handed to him on a plate by Mr Blair. Labour will lose a huge number of seats at the next General Election, particularly to the SNP in Scotland and this will pave the way clear for David Cameron and the Conservatives to come back to power.
Roll on 2009..........

I think we English had had quite enough professional Scottish politicians 'running' England.

It is now time for the English to take control of their own affairs.

Ironically, it will probably be the Scottish people who will be making that positive change, for the benefit of all of us, despite what the professional politicians say.

But whoever listened to them anyway?

I hope Blair isn't endorsing John Reid.

you place so much onus on whether, when and how Blair endorses Brown.

What you should be asking is do we, in a democratic country, want one presidential prime minister to 'hand over' the reins of power to another?

I don't see as helpful for the democratic process - or even as respectful for the due process within the Labour party of selecting a new leader - for Blair to opnely endorse anyone.

Yet again im afraid this is an example of a westminster based journalist losing perspective on what really MATTERS. What Blair thinks of Brown might make good copy but does it matter, at all? No!

I'm counting the days till he goes now because anyone would be better then Blair. But this week, at the age of nearly 30, I will vote for the first time and my vote will be for the local Tory candidate.

It's not that I trust Cameron any more then Brown, but political parties must be shown that if they go against the populace at every juncture and forget that they are to serve us rather then the opposite way around, they will be removed from power.

Brown has also damaged himself by being mean to pensioners and pension funds. I used to think he was a nice man but he is coming out in real colours now that Freedom of Information Act has come into effect.

Sounds like the familiar: 'He's the best man for the job'...
Even though - as he candidly admitted to some schoolgirls recently - Gordon Brown was 'not good at maths' at school.
Funny - the rest of us had spotted that....

Mr Blair : "Please don't kick me. I'm going soon anyway."

If he was going away to prison for a very long time then the voters might not kick him quite so much.

I think Tony Blair will be missed in the fullness of time AND his greatest achievement will be the democrotisation of Iraq in a generation time.

A Scot? So he's supporting John Reid then.

Not sure Brown will thank Blair for reminding voters in England that the chancellor is Scottish. As he's seems only happy to talk-up his British credentials theses days.
Blair's statement appears to be a last ditch attempt to claw back some votes from the SNP - As it's looking like disaster for Labour at the Scottish elections on Thursday.

The longer that Gordon holds onto power the greater Labours electoral defeat will be.I think that in the back of his mind Gordon and all the NuLabour cronies they know this.But they will not leave as they think that they have another few years of the good times.
The rest of us will have the put up with them until then.Of coarse,Gordon might just suprise us and go for an early election,but then pigs do fly don't they.

Mr Constable commenting earlier appears to have a bad bout of amnesia. He seems to forget about the "professional english politicians" governing Scotland during the Tory years and what a mess they created for the people of Scotland despite the Scots voting solidly against Thatcherism. No doubt in his arrogant manner Mr Constable thinks that the Tory way was the best way forward and that the Scots were just "whingeing" - it takes one to know one. Frankly, it is these sort of comments from Mr Constable which serve to destroy the Union.

The sooner I see the back of Tony Blair the better. I don't think Gordon Brown will be any better though, the last thing England needs is to be governed by Scottish Minority Rule.

The political class seem to overlook one problem that Browm carries.

50% of the people who actually bother to go and vote are aged 55 and over. By and large pensions are the major thing in their lives.

Now remind me, who was it that screwed-up the finest pension schemes in the world?

Bye Tony, Bye soon Gordon

So what went wrong to New Labour ? Well, for a start they don't look 'new' at all anymore - infact, they seem tired and demoralized. There is that feeling that it doesn't matter what happens, or what is said, they can not advance the cause further. Simply, people have seen it all before and the battle is lost !

Mandy is right to say that this government used spin and PR too much over the years ! This media manipulation and desire for headlines and airtime has destroyed Labour - people in the end were looking for results. You can talk up the economy and talk down the crime figures until the cows come home - the electorate knew the plot and had guessed who had written the script.

Yes Iraq, pensions blunders, tax credits, council tax, immigration will no doubt damage Labour. But its presentation which will finish it off - corny and predictable - Labour is now a Music Hall political act.

Sorry, no encores !

Brown has mucked up everything he has touched. Pensions, sold gold reserves at rock bottom prices,increased taxes by 60 percent, increased airport taxes under the name of a green tax and pocketed the money to his tax fund, spent the huge cash reserves left by the Tories. He has never achieved anything good and has always sheltered behind Blair

Really, does it matter whether Blair formally (or informally) endorses Brown? We are all perfectly capable of assessing Brown's merits and demerits for ourselves, and whether or not he gets the Blair stamp of approval I would have thought is neither here nor there. My own view, for what it's worth, is that a coronation of Brown amounts to political suicide for Labour, but maybe he'll prove me wrong...

Teflon Tony has spoiled a perfectly nice bottle of champagne that is in my fridge. I can't even remember exactly what was his first "must resign honorably" mis-judgement for which it was bought.

At least there is the literal sour grapes satisfaction of toasting a host of NuLabour friends with "I told you so" about TB's inherent lack of judgement. His ego never learned that you nudge complex social systems very, very gently - and then watch what happens over a reasonable period.

The "replacement" bottle will be nicely chilled by the next General Election. At least that will be a wake for my life's hopes of government by the ideals that Labour once enshrined. The only question is - do I commit the final heresy and vote Tory to be sure of the outcome?

Perhaps his description of 'a Scot' is a crafty way of keeping his options open just in case John Reid stands.

"You have been sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!" Oliver Cromwell dismissing the Rump Parliament, April 1653. We know how you felt, Oliver!

I’m not inclined to go medieval on Prime Minister Blair or blindly support Chancellor Brown. The pluses and minuses are all over the place and not worth sweating over. Both have done some good and bad, made mistakes and experienced difficulties. Simply, being realistic and maintaining a positive attitude towards the future strikes me as being more helpful.

I remain of the view that a more ordered and balanced political climate, with an emphasis on practicality and sociability, is in tune with public opinion. Prime Minister Blair’s legacy, in part, is responsible for this. Gordon Brown has a developing vision that usefully builds on this but, I think, he may not be practical or sociable enough to deliver, which is why I support John Reid and Margaret Beckett as possible future Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister.

Negative and backward looking attitudes aren’t terribly useful, as they divert resources into something best avoided. The media loves to build people up and the public love to complain, but it’s so much glitter and froth. Developing better shared goals, or positive consensus, is a proven technique for getting things done for everyone’s benefit and, I hope, this continues to develop in a useful way whoever is leader if Britain is to move forward and prosper.

Unbelievable! At least the ´óÏó´«Ã½ report had some balance! From when I was 18 in 1980 there was a Tory govt and I lost 000s in negative equity, saw huge unemployment and they let us all know they didnt really care about that. There are loads of achievements to the Labour Psarty's credit during the last 10 years, and it just amazes me that anyone thinks they were JUST there for the power. All politicians are motivated by power but the agebda for change in 97 was massive - it all seems small beer now but the House of Lords, the waiting lists, the poor state of school buildings, of school class sizes, no minimum wage, absurd working week for junior doctors, nowhere near enough police or nurses or teachers, no NHS direct or walk in tratement centres on a Sunday, or hsorter waits for cancer tretament, or increase dparental leave...I could go on and on - I know Iraq has been a divisive issue but it should not blind us to the fact that these sometimes venal politicans have made things better in this country and irrevocably so.

Vast reduction in child poverty, introduction of civil partnerships, resolution of civil war in Sierra Leone, massive contribution to the NI peace process and the complete overhaul of both major political parties... still we choose to whinge about the taxes, which the Tories are no longer going to cut anyway...

Politics is not an exact science and speculation is its main tool. Who can guarantee that a man that seems to be good with numbers can be a good Prime Minister? Let's wait and see what happens on Thursday. I reckon the joke 'the next Prime Minister might be a Scot' was a clever attempt to persuade doubtful voters in Scotland, but will they be easily persuaded? I reckon that many Scots have already made up their minds about Thursday's elections and that many keep in mind the consequences of eighteen years of Conservatism and more than ten years of Labour. Margaret Thatcher was pushed out by a fearful Conservative Party and Tony Blair allowed himself to be pushed out by a Labour Party that believes that the miraculous disappearance of Tony Blair will solve all the problems. Tony Blair went to Iraq because of the 'special relationship'. Those who know say that Gordon Brown is even more pro-American than Tony Blair. If anything, we will have more euro-scepticism and we will be chained to whoever runs the White House. Should the Democrats win the next Presidential election, how much will American foreign policy really change? Or will they do a u-turn when they are forced to face a harsh
new reality in which American influence is fading very quickly, a new reality in which there are nations willing and ready to challenge things like the IMF and the World Bank, and a new reality in which Blair or Brown will not be able to make a difference.

Maybe - just maybe - people may look back 11 years and reflect on how much the country has improved in virtually every area.

Employment, Inflation, Interest Rates, Housing Standards, Childhood Poverty, School Buildings and Educational Attainment . . . I could go on.

And also they may think on the decisions they got wrong in the last 11 years and be grateful their mistakes didn't have the consequence of a prime minister - nor the press coverage.

If you want a perfect PM you'll never get one. When you get a good one you don't appreciate it.

If Mr Blair were a retiring leader in the Balkans or Africa, imagine the Developed World clamour to bring him to account at The Hague.

It would appear then that the decision as to who will become the new prime minister of our country is an arrangement between two 'Blokes' themselves, as if the UK was a private family enterprise, it is shameful that the labour party allows this to happen, and it is disrespectful to the electorate to coronate Brown as the new prime minister without the consent of the people, well the law might allow this to happen, but, by George, come the next general election the electorate will respond both to the arrogant conduct of Blair and Brown, and the meagre
conduct of the labour party for not having the courage to conduct a leadership election, since this is not just an election for the leadership of the labour party, but by default also that of prime minister, and that makes all the difference.
Our time will come.

What has Tony Blair has done in the last 10 years apart from my tax's shooting up,lots of new stealth tax's and Iraq ??? Good bye Mr Blair I hope you enjoy your retirement because over 100 British troops that died in Iraq wont. As for Gordon Brown? dont bother unpacking it will be a short stay in number 10.

It's great shame people are just incapable of remembering quite how dreadful things were before May 97!

True to form to the last !
How can London based journalists justify ignoring any political activity happening in Britain - unless it's Westminster based. Oh no, you haven't ignored everything - you've got a sentence or two on the SNP. Oh fine then. No need to look to Wales then. That can be ignored totally. Blair's announcement clashing with a football game is far more important than Labour (maybe) losing control in Cardiff Bay ? The PM's announcement that will shock us all because we can't imagine what he'll say !

It's a great shame people are just incapable of remembering quite how dreadful things were before May 1979!
The unions were out of control, the IMF was running the economy and Prime Ministers were unable to understand the situation.
Blair is probably no worse than Harold Wilson was (apart from the terrible blunders in Iraq), often doing the wrong thing for the right reasons, but media coverage is far more intensive now and he's clung on too long for his own good. I'm still very glad to see him go though - if only we could scrap the rest of this sorry crew as well!
As for English ministers ruling Scotland, what about Ian Lang, Malcolm Rifkind, Michael Forsyth and so on. The problem comes when one small group of the population (fewer than 10% are Scottish) supplies up to a third of the Cabinet.

Talk about outstaying your welcome.

The tortured way all this is trailed and drip-fed by TB is just rubbing salt into the wound. He clearly has no idea.

Just go!

I just happened to see emails from the ´óÏó´«Ã½ news article.

Is it not strange how these are all anti-Blair/Brown - apart from a couple of "token" pro views who quite rightly point out that everybody seems to have forgotton just how bad this country was before May 97 (for the majority). But the Tories always have had short memories and no conscience.

War, Waste & MRSA wrapped up in Spin

Thanks Tony

I must say I find the almost pathological hatred of some people of the conservites just because of what happend under a diffrent leader with a party that includes some diffrent members ten years ago.

By that logic should we blame Labour for the mistakes made by the labour goverment in the sixties -70's and early 80's ? My point is should we bear grudges so long that we don't vote for a party simply because it has the same name as one that made some mistakes a decade ago?

the real challenge for the citizens of the uk is to come to terms with having an unelected prime minister who holds it would appear his colleagues and the general population in some form subservient position where feels it is his role to show us what is right and what we should be doing.

he exhibits all the symptons of a man lusting for the illusion of attaining enough power to force his view of society on us like some form of patriach.

no thanks gordo