Blair looks set to give departure timetable

London, Sept 7: British Prime Minister Tony Blair looked set to bow to intense pressure from disgruntled loyalists today and lay out a timetable for his departure within a year.

With Labour Party colleagues running scared about Blair's growing unpopularity, a junior minister and seven government aides resigned yesterday after calling on him to step aside.

Media speculation was rampant that Blair, facing one of the toughest crises in his nine years of power, was now widely expected to cave in to demands from rebels and outline his departure plans in much more detail.

But Blair officials refused to confirm the next move by the embattled premier after a day of intense political drama underlined the fragility of his leadership.

His popularity has tumbled in opinion polls after government scandals over sleaze and mismanagement were compounded by controversy over the wars in Iraq and Lebanon.

''What he will be remembered for is his stance on foreign policy and he will be remembered negatively for that and that really, really pains him,'' said Colin Hay, professor of political analysis at the University of Birmingham.

''I think sadly that desire to be remembered positively in history has been the key determinate of him holding onto power this long,'' he added.

Finance minister Gordon Brown is widely expected to take over from Blair, who led the bickering Labour Party out of the political wilderness to land three consecutive election wins.

''ENDGAME''

Blair has already pledged not to fight the next election, which is due in 2009.

But any hopes of a stable and orderly handover of power looked to be dashed with today's newspapers full of doomsday headlines like ''The Endgame'' and reports that Blair and Brown were now at daggers drawn over the succession.

''Labour paralysed as the poison spreads'' was the banner headline in the Times.

Junior Defence Minister Tom Watson was the most senior Labour lawmaker to resign on Wednesday. He was followed by seven government aides.

The last to quit on Wednesday evening was Iain Wright who said he ''no longer believed that the party and the Government can renew itself in office without urgently renewing the leadership.'' Amid fears that government could face paralysis in a long and bloody period of Labour Party bickering, Party Chair Hazel Blears warned: ''We remember those bad old days when we spent so long arguing amongst ourselves, we forgot to fight the Tories (Conservatives). When Labour is divided, only the Tories benefit.'' Conservative leader David Cameron, whose youthful image has sent him into a comfortable opinion poll lead over Blair, said the Labour government was now ''in meltdown.'' Margaret Thatcher, one of his most illustrious predecessors, was ruthlessly toppled by a party mutiny when colleagues felt she had become an electoral liability.

Now Blair faces the prospect of suffering the same fate.

REUTERS