LABOUR infighting burst into the open yesterday in response to the Times interview with the Prime Minister in which he insisted that he had no intention of naming a date for his departure.
Even as the disquiet spread among Labour MPs, Downing Street was put on the defensive after Tony Blair told journalists that he still expected to be Prime Minister for the Scottish and Welsh elections next May.
David Hill, Mr Blair’s director of communications, claimed that Mr Blair was merely being “reflective” and that he had been misunderstood.
Large sections of the Labour Party reacted with horror to Mr Blair’s remarks in The Times yesterday, in which he insisted: “Reasonable people will say I have done enough.”
But allies of the Chancellor and senior backbenchers said that there had been no serious discussions involving Mr Blair and other senior figures, including Mr Brown, about the timing of the transition and how it would be put into effect.
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The Prime Minister’s interview provoked a backlash from dozens of Labour MPs and unions. MPs claimed that Mr Blair had gone back on his promise to the parliamentary party last May to work out a handover that would give his successor time to prepare for the next election.
Andrew Smith, the former Work and Pensions Secretary, said: “I would have thought it’s clear to everyone that the debilitating uncertainty over the leadership can’t go on — it’s bad for the country, bad for the Government, bad for the Labour Party and ultimately bad for Tony Blair . . . the leadership issue has to be sorted out sooner rather than later.”
George Mudie, the MP for Leeds East, said: “If he continues to avoid the issue then I have to say that conference is the natural place for the party to say to the leader, ‘What on earth is going on?’.”
MPs expressed anger that Mr Blair was unconcerned about efforts by Stephen Byers and Alan Milburn to “test” Gordon Brown by floating radical ideas and seeing the Chancellor’s reaction.
Mr Brown is expected to stay silent about Mr Blair’s remarks. Supporters say that the anger with Mr Blair now extends beyond the so-called Brownite faction. Mr Blair’s refusal to give further indication that he may be going next year took many by surprise. Influential figures had predicted that he would be forced to say more to avoid a party revolt when the Commons returns.
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Despite talk of a round-robin letter or a delegation to see the Prime Minister, there seemed little evidence that much will happen before the party conference. No 10 yesterday said that several MPs had telephoned supporting his stance.
The depth of unrest was underlined by criticism from MPs outside the serial rebels. Sarah McCarthy-Fry, MP for Portsmouth North, said: “We’ve reached a point where not saying anything is going to be more damaging. We are stuck in this quagmire and we cannot get out of it because everything swings back to the leadership.”