Memo reveals blueprint for Blair's exit
Tony Blair faces renewed pressure from Labour MPs over his departure
Tuesday, 05, Sep 2006 12:00
Tony Blair's closest aides have drawn up a detailed plan to ensure he leaves Downing Street in a blaze of glory, a new memo reveals.
A five-page document, leaked to the Daily Mirror, suggests that despite the prime minister's call for Labour MPs to stop "obsessing" about his departure, the issue is very much on his mind.
And despite his insistence that he wants to "get on with the job", the memo suggests Mr Blair's aides are more concerned about orchestrating a situation where he can leave "on a high" – which might include leaving in May after he celebrates ten years in power.
"His genuine legacy is not the delivery, important though that is, but the dominance of new Labour ideas…the triumph of Blairism," the memo states.
"As TB enters his final phase he needs to be focusing way beyond the finishing line, not looking at it. He needs to go with the crowds wanting more. He should be the start who won't even play that last encore."
The memo comes amid furious speculation about when Mr Blair will leave Downing Street – media reports today suggest that Labour MPs are drawing up a number of letters calling on him to resign, although none have yet been delivered.
The document suggests Songs of Praise and children's TV show Blue Peter would be good vehicles for Mr Blair to make his final few appearances, and plans for monthly interviews with certain newspapers in the run up to his departure.
The prime minister is also set to take part in a carefully choreographed tour of the country, travelling on different forms of transport and being pictured with ordinary people rather than fellow politicians.
"He needs to travel around the UK to be carefully positioned as someone who, while not above politics, is certainly distancing himself from the political village," the memo says.
It notes the problem of Iraq in this positive image, saying it is the "elephant in the room" and adding: "Most importantly, are we up for it? Is TB up for it?"
Another potential spanner in the works is Gordon Brown – Mr Blair's aides admit that presenting him as the best thing that has happened to Britain means his successor might find it difficult to take over.
"There are specific issues which can provide opportunities and threats. They are: GB's reaction…the more successful we are the more it will agitate and possible destabilise him, we need to consider how to deal," it says.
Meanwhile, a poll today suggests that support for Labour would remain broadly the same whether Mr Brown or home secretary John Reid – who raised his profile this summer when dealing with the terror alert at Heathrow.
A Populus poll for The Times finds 33 per cent would support Labour under Mr Brown, and 32 per cent Labour under Mr Reid. David Cameron's Conservatives remain in the lead, with 42 per cent of support.