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PM to quit next week claim denied | PM to quit next week claim denied |
(10 minutes later) | |
Downing Street has strongly denied press claims Tony Blair will announce his resignation before Scottish, Welsh and English local elections on 3 May. | Downing Street has strongly denied press claims Tony Blair will announce his resignation before Scottish, Welsh and English local elections on 3 May. |
The prime minister has been expected to quit as Labour leader after the poll - but some press reports suggested he would go earlier. | |
In a rare comment on his plans, Downing Street said speculation Mr Blair would quit on Tuesday, 1 May, was "wrong". | |
Mr Blair, who is in Poland for a summit, refused to comment. | |
Opinion polls suggest Labour is in for a bad night in next Thursday's polls, with the party expected to lose hundreds of seats in England and Wales and see the SNP potentially become the largest party in Scotland. | |
But reports in the Daily Telegraph that Mr Blair would announce his retirement on Tuesday - the 10th anniversary of his election as prime minister - in a bid to limit the damage were categorically denied by his official spokesman. | |
The spokesman said: "I have one word for the stories: wrong. The stories this morning are wrong." | |
Asked if he was saying the stories Mr Blair would make an announcement about his future before the local elections were wrong, the spokesman replied: "Correct." | |
'Scoop' | |
Mr Blair has acknowledged he could be liability at the polls - recently urging voters in Scotland to resist the temptation to give a final "kicking". | |
But he has consistently refused to comment on his departure date, beyond saying he would be gone by the next Labour conference, in September. | |
He maintained this stance earlier at a joint press conference with the Polish prime minister in Warsaw, when he said he would not give journalists the "scoop" they were seeking. | |
"I wouldn't hold your breath on that story," he told reporters. | |
Speculation at Westminster has centred around Thursday, 9 May, the day after power sharing is due to resume in Northern Ireland - seen as one of the biggest achievements of Mr Blair's time in office. | |
After he stands down, Mr Blair will continue to serve as prime minister until a new Labour leader - widely expected to be Chancellor Gordon Brown - is elected. |