Blair regrets leadership “uncertainty”
Tony Blair has admitted for the first time that his decision to announce he would not stand for a fourth election created “uncertainty” for the government.
But the prime minister insisted that the situation could have been worse if he had held his cards closer to his chest.
Labour has been wracked by infighting between supporters of Gordon Brown – widely-tipped to be the country’s next leader – and Mr Blair since the prime minister’s announcement last year.
And in a wide-ranging interview with the Observer today, Mr Blair conceded: “It wasn’t really my desire last year to have a situation where all this uncertainty was created.
“There is always a debate about whether I was sensible to say I wouldn’t fight a fourth election – though personally I think I’d have had a load of different problems if I hadn’t,” the prime minister went on to say.
“It hasn’t been easy, but I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t have been easier if I hadn’t said it.
“[Margaret] Thatcher kept saying she was going on and on because people kept asking her, and in the end she got absolutely belted and chucked out.”
Although he refused to rule out the possibility of David Cameron becoming the first Conservative prime minister for more than a decade, Mr Blair emphasised that there would be no need for a snap election to be called if his chancellor did become leader.
“Now they’ve decided to get competitive, our response should not be fearful. We should say: ‘Right, we’re in a fight, so let’s see who’s got the best policies and agendas.’ Across a range of issues, we do,” he commented.
According to the Observer, senior Labour figures are fearful the party is on the brink of “open civil war” ahead of Mr Blair’s departure.
Last week loyal Blairites Charles Clarke and Alan Milburn launched the Vision2020 website to debate the future of Labour policy, but commentators have speculated that the site is designed to be a staging ground for anti-Brown opinions.
The prime minister admits that the transition of political leadership is “difficult”.
“It’s a test of your maturity to do it easily,” he said.
And in a thinly-veiled attack upon Mr Cameron, who like the prime minister has been criticised for a perceived lack of substance, Mr Blair said: “I could once have just stood up and been a touchy-feely politician people kind of liked and who looked a bit different from the normal. That wouldn’t have got me home.”
Mr Blair is widely expected to announce a definitive timetable for his departure at the beginning of May.
