Blair delays holiday to work for UN resolution
Tony Blair delays his holiday to work for a UN resolution on Lebanon
Friday, 04, Aug 2006 12:00
Tony Blair has delayed his summer holiday to work on a UN resolution aiming to bring an end to the hostilities in the Middle East.
The prime minister was due to go away for his three-week break today, leaving responsibility for running the country in the hands of John Prescott, his deputy.
Concerns have been expressed about the timing of his trip, which comes in the midst of intense negotiations about how to end the fighting in the Lebanon.
But yesterday, Mr Blair insisted that the nature of modern communication technology meant he would be in constant contact with world leaders while he was away.
"The most important thing to realise is that wherever I am, I will be on the phone, I will have full communications," he told reporters in his monthly press conference.
"The truth is that several of the leaders I'm speaking to [about the crisis] are actually on holiday as well."
However, reports suggest today that he has now decided to delay leaving the UK for at least a couple of days, in order to work on a UN resolution on Lebanon. Foreign secretary Margaret Beckett has also put her holiday plans on hold.
Yesterday Mr Blair said he believed the UN security council could agree on a resolution "within days", despite divisions over whether or not to call for an immediate ceasefire on Israel's part, something both the UK and the US have resisted so far.
"This is a very critical time, but I think it is coming together now. The differences are very slight over a resolution that can be put down," he prime minister said.
Since then, US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice has also expressed her view that an agreement, which may be based on a draft French resolution circulated on Wednesday night, could be achieved this weekend.
"We're now working on a security council resolution and hopefully we can get that passed and I think it certainly will be within days," she said in an interview on CNN.