British Prime Minister States His Intent to Stay On Until the Next Election

LONDON —  British Prime Minister Tony Blair rebuffed speculation he might bow out before the next election despite a new poll that shows many regard him as a liability to his own party in light of the war in Iraq.

Blair said he would lead his ruling Labor Party into the next election, expected in 2005.

“Am I up for doing it? Yes, I am,” the prime minister told the Daily Mirror.

Blair’s statement of intent came amid heightened speculation after his deputy, John Prescott, said recently that Labor would win the next ballot if Blair was at the helm.

Commentators seized on Prescott’s use of the word “if” -- a word hitherto taboo among party faithful.

Blair’s powerful chancellor of the exchequer, Gordon Brown, is seen as his obvious successor.

Responding to those who say he must promise to serve a full term if he stands at the next election, Blair said: “The reason I try to answer that carefully is you always end up with headlines saying I am going on, and on, and on.

“That’s Thatcher business,” he added, referring to a famous phrase by former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of the Conservative Party.

Blair said his five-year political strategy would be unveiled in late June or July.

A poll in the Daily Telegraph newspaper said 41% wanted Blair to resign immediately and 18% believed he should go before the next election.

Asked which of eight leading Labor figures would make the best leader, only 25% of the more than 2,000 respondents pointed to Blair, compared with the 29% who favored Brown.

Fifty-one percent thought that Blair had become a liability to his party, compared with 21% who thought the same of Brown.