British tabloid: Blair sets date to leave office

updated 5:11 a.m. ET Sept. 6, 2006

LONDON - A national tour and a bevy of TV appearances to buff his legacy: Tony Blair's advisers have mapped out what they hope will be a triumphant end to his years in office, a purportedly leaked memo showed Tuesday.

But political reality may intervene with their plans as a restive Labor Party grows anxious for the prime minister to step aside sooner than he might like.

Britain's The Sun tabloid reported that Blair would leave office on July 26, 2007 — after 10 years as Britain's premier. Two ministers from Blair's Cabinet said that next year was likely to see him step down.

The newspaper's Wednesday edition, available late Tuesday, splashed across its front page that Blair would resign as leader of the governing Labor Party on May 31, 2007 — triggering a leadership election likely to take around eight weeks. He would then be replaced as prime minister on July 26, the tabloid said.

Blair was appointed Labor leader in July 1994 and took office on May 2, 1997.

George Pascoe-Watson, political editor of The Sun, told Britain's Sky News television he would not disclose the sources of the story and said only that his newspaper's previous predictions on the date of elections had been "absolutely bang on the money."

Britain's Daily Mirror tabloid said in its Tuesday edition it had been leaked a copy of the purported memo setting out the details of Blair's leaving plans — but not any departure date.

Lawmakers from the party were also circulating a letter demanding he set a resignation date, news reports said.

Blair's Downing Street office said it would not comment on tabloid speculation about his departure but said the prime minister had received a private letter on Tuesday from a group of 17 legislators. Officials declined to discuss the contents.

A call to ‘focus on the future’
In an interview last week, Blair said that his critics should stop obsessing about when he'll say goodbye, but the Daily Mirror said the leaked memo suggested his office was giving the matter careful thought.

"As TB enters his final phase, he needs to be focusing way beyond the finishing line, not looking at it," the newspaper quoted the memo as saying. "He needs to go with the crowds wanting more. He should be the star who won't even play that last encore. In moving towards the end, he must focus on the future."

The memo reportedly recommended that Blair reach out beyond the political media by appearing on an eclectic mix of television programs, including the children's show "Blue Peter" and the British Broadcasting Corp. religious music showcase "Songs of Praise."

Overnight visits to at least six British cities, as well as stops at 20 of the most striking buildings built or refurbished since he took office in 1997, should also be on the schedule of a final month planned down to the minute, the memo reportedly said.

The whirlwind tour would send a message that Blair's most important legacy was not the specific changes he made, "but the dominance of (his political) ideas ... the triumph of Blairism."

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