Blair to stay in power one more year, ally says

LONDON, Sep 5 (Reuters) British Prime Minister Tony Blair will stay in power for another year, a close ally said today, while a leaked memo detailed plans for a ''farewell tour'' that would see Mr Blair take his leave like a ''star''.

The comments by Environment Secretary David Miliband were widely seen as having been authorised by the prime minister in an attempt to quell a growing rebellion by members of his Labour Party who are demanding he give a timetable for leaving office.

Prime Minister for nine years, Mr Blair has said he will not seek a fourth term and will give his successor -- expected to be finance minister Gordon Brown -- ample time to settle in before the next general election, expected in 2009.

Although some Labour members of parliament were satisfied by the assurance, many others were not.

A draft letter calling for Prime Minister Blair to set an exit date was reported to be circulating and to have enough support from Labour legislators to suggest Blair could face a leadership challenge if he did not heed it.

Blair's office denied having received the letter.

''The conventional wisdom is that the prime minister sees himself carrying on for about another 12 months,'' Miliband told BBC radio.

PM Blair's popularity has plunged after a series of government scandals over sleaze and mismanagement, as well as controversy over the Iraq war. Opinion polls put Labour well behind the opposition Conservatives -- who are resurgent under their youthful, pro-environment leader David Cameron.

Despite intense pressure, Mr Blair, 53, has refused to say precisely when he will go.

ELECTORAL LIABILITY By insisting last week that he would not lay out plans, as expected, at the Labour Party's annual conference at the end of September, Mr Blair angered many members of his own party who feel the prime minister is now an electoral liability.

''There is a total preoccupation with the timetable for the prime minister's departure and the infighting in the government for position...That is debilitating. It can't go on,'' former minister Nick Raynsford told Sky television.

Others rallied to the prime minister's defence.

Forty-nine Labour legislators signed a statement welcoming what they saw as Mr Miliband's promise that a new leader would be in place by the 2007 Labour Party conference.

''This gives the party the certainty it needs,'' they said.

Gary Titley, Labour leader in the European Parliament, urged the party to stop the ''paralysing pressure'' on Mr Blair to speed up his departure.

A memo, leaked to the Daily Mirror, indicated that plans for Mr Blair's farewell were well in hand.

The memo, reportedly drawn up by a team of Mr Blair's top aides, proposed a whirlwind of television and radio appearances in the final months of Blair's premiership.

''He needs to go with the crowds wanting more. He should be the star who won't even play that last encore,'' the memo said.

The prime minister's official spokesman said neither Mr Blair nor senior aides had seen the memo. He said Mr Blair wanted to get on with ''what the government was elected to do.'' ''What he's interested in is substance, not image. What he's interested in is examining the issues,'' the spokesman said.

Reuters SHB GC2235