Tony Blair to declare date of resignation today

London, May 10: British Prime Minister Tony Blair, ending a decade in power with a legacy soured by scandal and the Iraq war, is expected to set a date for his resignation today.

Winner of three national elections including his first landslide victory in 1997, Blair is expected to stay on as prime minister and Labour Party leader until a successor takes over in late June or early July.

Finance Minister Gordon Brown, with whom Blair has had a close but uneasy relationship, appears certain to win a seven-week Labour Party leadership contest and serve as prime minister until the next election.

Blair will make an announcement tomorrow about his position as Labour Party leader, his spokesman said.

He stressed Blair was not actually resigning as party leader and would remain prime minister for some time after the announcement. ''Tomorrow is about setting out his intentions,'' he told reporters.

Blair is Labour's most successful leader, overseeing a growing economy, significantly hiking spending in healthcare, education and other services and working to end three decades of conflict in Northern Ireland.

But those victories are overshadowed by party funding scandals and the war in Iraq. With his popularity falling, he was forced by a Labour rebellion in September to say he would step down within a year.

In elections last week Labour lost its position as the biggest party in the Scottish parliament to nationalists seeking independence from Britain.

And in English local elections, the opposition Conservatives won some 40 percent of the vote, versus Labour's 27 percent.

Analysts say Blair's stepping down in mid-term could give Labour a chance to rebuild flagging support before national polls expected in 2009.

Leadership

One by one over recent weeks, potential heavyweight challengers for the leadership have said they will not challenge Brown, Britain's longest-serving Chancellor of the Exchequer in 200 years and long regarded as Blair's heir.

That leaves two left-wing lawmakers -- John McDonnell and Michael Meacher -- as the only declared leadership contenders.

They have agreed that the one with the most support will press ahead with his challenge and the other will drop out.

But it is uncertain whether they will be able to win the backing of the 45 members of parliament needed to get on the leadership election ballot.

Conservative leader David Cameron mocked Blair's team in parliament today, calling it the ''government of the living dead'' and asking why Britain had to put up with seven weeks of paralysis while Labour chose a new leader.

Blair insisted he remained in charge.

''I'll tell him (Cameron) what I'll be concentrating on in the next seven weeks and that is policy -- the policies for the economy and health and education and law and order,'' he said.

Blair's spokesman was also at pains to quash charges that Blair would now be a ''lame duck'' prime minister.

''You will see the prime minister in action over the coming weeks both domestically ... but also internationally, particularly in the run-up to the G8 summit (and) the EU summit,'' he said.

The summit of the Group of Eight leading industrial countries takes place in Germany from June 6 to 8. The European Union summit in Brussels is on June 21 and 22.

Reuters>