posted September 06, 2006 05:53 PM              

Matthew Tempest and agencies
Wednesday September 6, 2006
Guardian Unlimited

Tony Blair gives a speech on social exclusion at the Folk Hall, York, on Tuesday. Photgraph: John Giles/WPA/PA.

Tony Blair today faced an implosion of his authority after seven government members resigned in protest at his refusal to publicly name a departure date.
After today's Sun claimed Mr Blair would resign as Labour leader next May and step down as PM in July, a junior minister and six parliamentary private secretaries quit in rapid succession on a day of high Westminster drama.

Although all seven resignations were from junior posts, the fact that each MP had been a loyal Blairite led the Conservative leader, David Cameron, to claim the government was "divided and in meltdown".

The Liberal Democrat leader, Menzies Campbell, said the national interest was "not being served by the continuing uncertainty over Mr Blair".
The chancellor, Gordon Brown, was spotted leaving the rear of Downing Street earlier today after what was reported to be an angry and uresolved conversation with the prime minister.

Unlike in previous crises, there was a conspicuous lack of cabinet ministers taking to the airwaves to defend the prime minister.

However, the former cabinet minister David Blunkett warned Mr Brown and his supporters to "back off".

"It is now in Gordon Brown's - and the Labour party's - best interests for those seeking the prime minister's immediate departure to back off," Mr Blunkett said.

"This is not only to avoid our opponents exploiting the impression of disintegration and division, but also to avoid the split of our party, which would have lasting consequences."

Mr Brown has made no public comment on the unfolding events today.

Problems mount ahead of conference

Labour now appears to be facing an imminent and serious crisis, with little more than two weeks to go before the party conference in Manchester.

Although Mr Blair went into last year's election promising not to stand again, his declaration to serve a "full third term" was quickly changed to allowing his successor "ample" time to settle in.

In a Times interview last week, he made it clear he would not set a public departure date. Today's report in the Sun was not denied outright by Downing Street, with a spokesman instead describing it as "speculation".

The first resignation this morning was the junior defence minister, Tom Watson, followed by six parliamentary private secretaries.

All had yesterday signed a round robin letter calling on Mr Blair to publicly state his exit date, thereby making their official government positions all but untenable.

The six PPSs who have quit are Khalid Mahmood, Wayne David, Ian Lucas, Mark Tami, David Wright and Chris Mole.

Their departures followed 48 hours of leaks and rampant speculation about an exit timetable.

A parliamentary private secretary is the most junior role in government, essentially a conduit between ministers and backbenchers.

In his resignation letter, Mr Mole wrote that the discontent was not from "usual suspects, but mainstream, supportive colleagues who fear for the interests of the party and country".

Loyal cabinet minister Patricia Hewitt said it would be "madness" for MPs to dictate terms to Mr Blair.

Major dates on the political horizon include the return of parliament in October, the Queen's speech in November, Scottish and Welsh elections next May and the chancellor's comprehensive spending review - which will set spending limits until 2011 - in the summer.

The PM also faces questioning in the police investigation into Labour's role in the alleged "cash for peerages" affair.

Blair: minister disloyal, discourteous and wrong

In his resignation letter to the prime minister, Mr Watson wrote: "It is with the greatest sadness that I have to say that I no longer believe that your remaining in office is in the interest of either the party or the country."

The PM hit back at the junior minister, calling him "disloyal, discourteous and wrong" for having signed the letter.

In a statement, he said: "I had been intending to dismiss him, but wanted to extend to him the courtesy of speaking to him first. Had he come to me privately and expressed his view about the leadership, that would have been one thing.

"But to sign a round robin letter which was then leaked to the press was disloyal, discourteous and wrong. It would therefore have been impossible for him to remain in government."

The deepening crisis comes ahead of a likely visit to the Middle East by Mr Blair.

Reacting to the resignations, Downing Street announced that Derek Twigg would move from the Department of Transport to replace Mr Watson as junior defence minister. Tom Harris joins the government to replace Mr Twigg as transport minister.

After two conflicting round robin letters from Labour MPs yesterday - one calling for Mr Blair to announce a departure date and the other saying that leaving before the 2007 conference was enough - a succession of cabinet ministers went public to say indications of his departure within a year were sufficient.

The environment secretary, David Miliband - often tipped as a future Labour leader - yesterday said it was "reasonable" to assume Mr Blair would be gone within 12 months.

Cabinet ministers appear to have coalesced around this choice of words after yesterday's Mirror revealed details of a "farewell tour" to be made by the PM next summer.

In addition to Mr Miliband and Hilary Armstrong, the social exclusion minister, other Blair allies - Hilary Benn, the international development secretary, and Sir Jeremy Beecham, the chairman of Labour's national executive committee - yesterday said they expected a new leader to be in place within 12 months.

John McDonnell, a left-wing Labour MP, has already pledged to stand against Gordon Brown on an unashamedly socialist platform.

If Mr Blair resigned on May 31, it would mean he had been the prime minister for 10 years and 30 days - still short of Mrs Thatcher's 11 years at the helm.