MPs resign as pressure on Blair mounts

Seven Labour MPs have quit their government posts over Tony Blair's refusal to say when he will step down as Prime Minister.

Junior defence minister Tom Watson was the first to quit his post, followed by five parliamentary secretaries: Khalid Mahmood, Wayne David, Ian Lucas, Mark Tami, Chris Mole and David Wright.

Mr Watson is understood to have been one of a group of MPs who had signed a letter urging Mr Blair to set a date for his departure from Downing Street. The letter said that the MPs did not believe that Mr Blair remaining in office was "in the interest of either party or the country".

Mr Blair responded by saying that he had intended to sack Mr Watson anyway. The Prime Minister said: "I had been intending to dismiss him (Mr Watson) but wanted to extend to him the courtesy of speaking to him first.

"But to sign a round robin letter which was then leaked to the press was disloyal, discourteous and wrong."

Commenting on the crisis, Conservative leader David Cameron said that the government was in "meltdown", while Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell said: "What is at issue is the national interest, which is not being served by the continuing uncertainty over Mr Blair. The Labour party has created this situation and has the responsibility to solve it. Mr Blair should either resign or state a date."

A report in 'The Sun' newspaper has claimed that Mr Blair will resign as Labour party leader on May 31, 2007 and resign as Prime Minister on July 26.

An eight-week leadership contest would then be held in order to find a new leader, the report said.

Downing Street has refused to comment on the claims.

Pressure has been mounting on Mr Blair to name the date when he would step down as Prime Minister.

Mr Blair said that he would step down before the next General Election, but has so far refused to confirm the date on which he would step down.

On Tuesday, it was reported that 17 MPs - all of whom were elected in 2001 - had signed a letter, organised by two former Blairites, Sion Simon and Chris Bryant, urging the Prime Minister to name a date for his departure from office.

There have also been reports that a second letter, urging Mr Blair to step down, is being drafted by another group of Labour MPs.

Also on Tuesday, a leaked memo, detailing plans of a country-wide tour ahead of Mr Blair's retirement, appeared in the 'Daily Mirror'.

According to the report, the memo was written by Mr Blair's closest advisers.

However, Downing Street said that the memo had not been seen by either Mr Blair nor any of his senior advisers.

(KMcA/EF)