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Articles: Blair faces pressure to go in sleaze row

Posted by admin on Tuesday, March 21, 2006 - 08:08 AM

LONDON - British Prime Minister Tony Blair faced growing pressure today to step down over a sleaze row which has tarnished his reputation and boosted calls for finance minister Gordon Brown to take the reins.
Reuters

The"cash for favours" row blew up after it was disclosed that rich businessmen had been nominated for seats in the upper house of parliament after lending the Labour party large sums to bankroll its election campaign last year. Right-leaning newspapers have been clamouring for Blair to go for days, but today the Guardian, long seen as the institutional voice of the centre-left, joined the chorus. "Nine years is long enough," it said in an editorial. "There is no excuse for foot-dragging, no excuse for trading on the patience of his party, the country or his successor." Blair’s spokesman brushed off speculation about the future of the prime minister, who has been dubbed "Teflon Tony" for surviving past political fallout unscathed. "The prime minister’s concentrated on getting on with the job, and he will," the spokesman said. Most big political parties in Britain depend on loans and Blair did not break any law by not declaring them. Under current rules only donations to parties have to be made public. But what irks some Labour lawmakers is that their party treasurer and some senior ministers did not know about the £14m received, fuelling allegations that Blair’s inner circle was running a secret slush fund. In response to the furore, Lord Falconer, the Labour minister for constitutional affairs, said today the government would seek to amend the law on party loans. Separately, Blair has appointed career civil servant Hayden Phillips to review funding rules in general. Blair’s spokesman said today that Phillips would examine state funding for parties, among other issues, and report back by the end of 2006. Blair has said he will not fight a fourth election, due by mid-2010. He won a third term last May but saw his majority slashed, partly due to opposition over the war in Iraq. However most analysts expect him to stay on for several years to push through his public service reform agenda and only hand over to leader-in-waiting Brown shortly before the next election. Bookmakers reckon Blair is set on staying in power longer than the 11-1/2 years notched up by former Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher, which would mean hanging on until the end of November 2008. But besides the sleaze row, he is fighting a rebellion within party ranks over his school reforms plan. The bill only passed a key hurdle in parliament last week thanks to opposition Conservative votes when 52 Labour lawmakers rebelled. "This (sleaze) is far more dangerous to Blair than whether or not he had to rely on Conservative votes for the education bill. It’s too close to him," said John Curtice, professor of politics at Strathclyde University. The row is also hurting Blair in the opinion polls. A YouGov survey published yesterday put his approval rating at 36%, the lowest since he came to power in 1997. However Labour’s standing is solid. Polls released yesterday showed Blair’s party was still ahead of the Conservatives, despite a mini-revival under new leader David Cameron. "Blair has probably lost some friends on this issue and it makes him vulnerable if indeed the Labour Party becomes electorally unpopular," said Curtice. "But so far there is no evidence that the most recent events have done any damage to Labour’s standing in the polls."

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