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Sat 27 Sep 2003 |
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| UNDER PRESSURE: Tony
Blair. | | Poll says one in two wants Blair to quit
BRIAN FERGUSON
PRIME Minister Tony Blair was
rocked by a double blow today as new polls suggested half the British
public and many of his own MPs want him to quit.
The two polls
have revealed widespread discontent over his policies at home and abroad
on the eve of his tenth conference as Labour Party leader.
The
findings will fuel growing speculation that Gordon Brown will step in to
succeed him, with one of the polls - carried out by Mori - suggesting that
more people would vote Labour if the Chancellor were to take over the top
job.
A second survey revealed nearly a quarter of Labour MPs
wanted Blair to quit immediately, while a similar proportion wanted him to
go either before or after the next General Election.
Mr Blair was
facing growing warnings from key figures within the party as activists
gathered in Bournemouth today ahead of the start of the party’s
conference. The gathering already looked tough for the Prime Minister,
coming hard on the heels of the shock Liberal Democrat victory in the
Brent East by-election, in what was previously a safe Labour seat.
The conference is certain to be overshadowed by criticism over the
war on Iraq and the death of the weapons expert Dr David Kelly.
Today’s Mori public opinion poll has shown how the Prime
Minister’s popularity and trust ratings have slumped in the aftermath of
the war.
It asked people whether they agreed with the statement:
"It’s now time for Tony Blair to resign and hand over to someone else".
Fifty per cent agreed, 39 per cent disagreed and 11 per cent were unsure.
Just twenty-nine per cent said they were satisfied with Mr Blair’s
performance, compared to a peak of 47 per cent at the end of the war in
Iraq.
According to the poll, Labour has a nine-point leader over
the Tories in terms of voting intentions for the next election.
But that figure shoots up to 15 points when the same people were
asked how they would vote if Mr Brown was at the helm.
A separate
newspaper poll of 108 of Labour’s 409 MPs at Westminster revealed growing
dissatisfaction over the handling of the war, plans for university top-up
fees and the Prime Minister’s leadership style.
One backbencher,
speaking anonymously, said there was a general feeling among many MPs that
Mr Brown would uphold traditional Labour values as Prime Minister in a way
that Mr Blair had not.
"The big thing about Gordon is that he’s in
the Labour movement. People feel he’s rooted in that way, that Blair not
only isn’t, but doesn’t want to be."
One of the few Labour MPs to
speak out, Nick Brown, a strong ally of the Chancellor, said of the top-up
fees: "The Labour Party has no business putting obstacles in the way of
working-class youngsters going on the very best courses if they can pass
the exams and have the ability."
Of the 108 MPs surveyed only 29
offered the Prime Minister their unconditional support, while 24 said he
should step down now, 25 said he should quit either before or after the
next election and nine said they wanted him to stay if he changed his
leadership style.
Former health secretary Alan Milburn warned
there was a "fog of doubt" hanging over Mr Blair and a sense that the
Government was "drifting and lacks focus".
Former Cabinet
colleague Peter Mandelson admitted the Government was in "particularly
choppy water".
The war on Iraq is the most obvious focus for
discontent at the conference, with a session on international issues on
Wednesday due to feature speeches by the Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon and
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.
But all eyes will be on Mr Blair
when he makes his own keynote speech to the conference the following day.
There are already hints that he hopes a bravura "not for turning"
tone will silence his critics.
Mr Blair is bound to insist he was
right to take the country to war, but right, too, to press on with his
controversial plans for reform in public services matched by huge
investment
, such as university tuition fees and foundation
hospitals.
Chances of an anti-war motion making it on to the
agenda are slim with the four biggest unions - the GMB, Transport and
General, Amicus and Unison - choosing to highlight instead pensions,
workers’ rights, and the plight of manufacturing.
But on the
conference fringe, expressions of dissent are expected to be far more
heated. The highlight may come on Thursday evening, with ex-Cabinet
ministers Robin Cook and Clare Short, who both quit over Iraq, due to
address the annual Tribune rally.
Mr Blair may have to endure a
second public inquiry into the death of weapon’s expert David Kelly, it
emerged today.
A coroner in Dr Kelly’s home county of Oxfordshire
said he might reopen the official inquest, which was adjourned at the
start of the Hutton Inquiry, because several witnesses had refused to let
Lord Hutton see their statements to police. |
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