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15/09/2006
Hoon's comments whip up Blair departure debate
Comments by Europe Minister Geoff Hoon reported today in the London Evening Standard have whipped up the debate over when Tony Blair should stand down.
Mr Hoon was reported to have said that Labour party activists wanted Mr Blair to step down "on a high" and leave while he was "still popular".
The surprise comments by the former cabinet minister, twice demoted by Mr Blair, are certain to increase the pressure on the Prime Minister to name the date of his departure. But they will also serve to dash any possibility Mr Blair may have had of restoring calm and an air of unity to the Labour Party in the run up to the May local government elections.
The big question facing Mr Blair is should he stay to guide the apparently fracturing party through the next election campaign.
Mr Hoon also moved to endorse Chancellor Gordon Brown as the next party leader.
He was reported to have said: "We should think very carefully about who we want to be in place when we face our next poll test."
The Labour Party conference is due to be held in Manchester next week.
(SP/KMcA)
Mr Hoon was reported to have said that Labour party activists wanted Mr Blair to step down "on a high" and leave while he was "still popular".
The surprise comments by the former cabinet minister, twice demoted by Mr Blair, are certain to increase the pressure on the Prime Minister to name the date of his departure. But they will also serve to dash any possibility Mr Blair may have had of restoring calm and an air of unity to the Labour Party in the run up to the May local government elections.
The big question facing Mr Blair is should he stay to guide the apparently fracturing party through the next election campaign.
Mr Hoon also moved to endorse Chancellor Gordon Brown as the next party leader.
He was reported to have said: "We should think very carefully about who we want to be in place when we face our next poll test."
The Labour Party conference is due to be held in Manchester next week.
(SP/KMcA)
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