London – Lawmakers in Tony Blair’s Labor Party are circulating a draft of a letter calling on the prime minister to set a date for his departure, a legislator told The Associated Press on Sunday.
The letter addressed to Labor’s executive committee was widely reported in the British media Sunday, two days after Blair’s major overhaul of his government.
Mounting crises engulfing the prime minister were cited as being behind the letter. Some lawmakers also said they simply want to know who would lead Labor into the next election, which Blair has said he will not contest.
Top party figures warned rebels among the rank and file against launching a coup that could destroy Labor.
Meanwhile, Blair struggled to get his troubled government back on track after taking a beating in local government elections nationwide Thursday.
Labor finished an embarrassing third in the vote, which had been seen as a referendum on Blair’s popularity.
The prime minister’s Cabinet shake-up Friday indicated he intends to hold on to his job. He often says he won re-election to a third term just a year ago and plans to serve a full term, although he will not seek a fourth in elections planned in 2009.
But his government has lurched from one crisis to the next in recent weeks.
The latest was the local elections, which followed a furor over officials’ failure to screen foreign criminals for deportation when they were released from British prisons and allegations that Blair nominated Labor’s financial backers to the House of Lords.
Labor lawmakers are circulating the draft letter but did not plan to make it public immediately, one Labor legislator told AP on condition of anonymity because he did not want to be publicly linked to the rebels in the party.
“The letter will materialize in due course if there’s no change of mind on his part,” the lawmaker said. “It can be posted at any time.”
The lawmaker said rebels wanted to avoid damaging the party but were “prepared to be tough” if Blair did not announce plans to step down.
