Blair admits decision to quit has created uncertainty

13 April 2012

Tony Blair today admitted that his announcement he will quit as Prime Minister this year has created a period of "uncertainty" for the Government.

But he insisted that he would have faced "a load of different problems" if he had kept quiet about his intentions.

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• Blair in a boater, a crude hand gesture, and the Class of '75

And he made clear he did not want to repeat the fate of Margaret Thatcher, who said she would go on and on, but was then "absolutely belted and chucked out" by her own party.

In an interview with The Observer, Mr Blair suggested that his departure would draw the sting of the Iraq War - possibly allowing Labour to win back voters who have deserted it because of his decision to join US-led military action.

Referring back to the 2005 election, he said: "Iraq was a factor then. In a sense, when I go, that goes with me."

Mr Blair played down suggestions that his successor - widely expected to be Chancellor Gordon Brown - would have to call a snap election to earn his own mandate as PM, saying he expected it to be "a significant time" before the poll was called.

He declined to offer a fresh endorsement of Mr Brown as his successor, referring instead to the "myriad of complimentary things I have said in the past" about him.

And he refused to rule out the possibility that David Cameron's Conservatives would win the coming General Election, saying only that Labour should not be "fearful" of the reinvigorated opposition, but say: "Right, we're in a fight, so let's see who's got the best policies and agendas - across a range of issues, we do."

Mr Blair said that the process of choosing a new leader while in Government would be "a test of maturity" for the Labour Party.

But he rejected suggestions that the launch of a website to debate future Labour policy by Blairite former ministers Charles Clarke and Alan Milburn would stir up trouble for the party, insisting that the public would not mind a "sensible debate about the future".

Looking back to the events of last autumn, when demands from Labour backbenchers for him to name a date forced him to announce he would step down by September this year, he said: "It wasn't really my desire last year to have a situation where all this uncertainty was created.

"There is always a debate about whether I was sensible to say I wouldn't fight a fourth election - though personally I think I'd have had a load of different problems if I hadn't.

"It hasn't been easy, but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have been easier if I hadn't said it. Mrs Thatcher kept saying she was going on and on because people kept asking her, and in the end she got absolutely belted and chucked out."

Despite the Conservatives' strong lead in recent polls, Mr Blair suggested that Mr Cameron's "touchy-feely" style was not enough to win him power.

"I could once have just stood up and been a touchy-feely politician people kind of liked and who looked a bit different from the normal," said Mr Blair. "That wouldn't have got me home."

And he launched an attack on Mr Cameron's high-profile proposal for tax breaks for married couples, saying: "It's hard to see why you would want to support a married couple without children rather than a lone parent whose husband may have left her through no fault of her own and who is trying to bring up two children."

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