September 07, 2006

The Irrestible (Fun to Watch) Demise of Tony Blair

As Kevin has noted at Political Animal, if you aren't following the escalating intra-party brawl surrounding just exactly when Tony Blair will step down as prime minister, you are missing a highly-entertaining show.

On the substance of this, Brown is of course quite right. Blair is extremely unpopular and his leadership has pushed his party down to levels of popularity not seen since Mrs. Thatcher's last election (yes, Labour is THAT unpopular right now). And I suppose by so openly swinging at the prime minister he might be doing himself some good come election time (on the theory that if he's seen as the guy responsible for dumping an unpopular leader, well, some voters will appreciate that, and of course since he wants to contest the next national election he'd like more time to raise the public's opinion of his party). Of course there may be more to Blair's tirades than a feeling that he's not leaving No. 10 unless he's dragged kicking and screaming out of the place (of course he already seems to be kicking and screaming ...). By raising the venom up to charges of "blackmail" he could be trying to lay the groundwork for one of his acolytes to wrest the party leadership from Brown's grasp.

In any event, you don't want to miss the show.

Posted by armand at September 7, 2006 09:27 AM | TrackBack | Posted to International Affairs


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