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Blair says he might quit to save the party

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, MAY 13. Faced with a deepening political crisis over Iraq and a growing lack of confidence in his leadership, the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, is reported to have offered to quit rather than become an electoral liability for his party in the run-up to the next year's general election— but only when he is himself convinced that it is time for him to go.

The buzz in normally informed circles, including pro-Labour quarters, is that Mr. Blair is under enormous pressure not only from his anti-war backbench MPs but also from Cabinet colleagues who fear that the continuing `mess' in Iraq bodes ill for Labour Party's election prospects.

Calls for a leadership change became more insistent after a poll showed that the Labour may not win the next election under Mr. Blair's leadership. According to another poll, Labour's support is at its lowest for nearly two decades with traditional party supporters threatening not to vote for it in the coming elections to the European Parliament as a warning ahead of the general elections, which are barely 12 months away.

Senior party MPs such as Robin Cook and Clare Short, both of whom resigned from the Cabinet over their opposition to the Iraq war, have publicly called for a change of leadership amid a growing view that Mr. Blair is losing `control' over events.

A Guardian report that he has told "close associates'' that he will "stand aside'' if he thinks he has become a liability has not been denied, and was reinforced today by The Independent which said there was "growing speculation'' at Westminster that he might quit if things got rough.

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