Tuesday, 1 May, 2007

By Robbie Gibb
Programme producer, BBC Newsnight

Presented by Jeremy Paxman

View the poll results (16KB) Most computers will open PDF documents automatically, but you may need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader. Download the reader here Majority want early election

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Blair: the final countdown

Ten years down - how many days to go?

This morning, perched on a breakfast TV sofa, Tony Blair promised to "say something definitive" about his plans for stepping down as prime minister.

A few hours later he was in Edinburgh where he gave his most explicit endorsement of Gordon Brown, telling the assembled throng:

"In all probability, a Scot will become prime minister of the United Kingdom."

So far so good for Gordon Brown.

Unfortunately, a Newsnight poll will make uncomfortable reading for the man who would be PM.

Almost three quarters of respondents think there should be a general election soon after Blair steps down - more disturbing still, this was true of even the majority of those who describe themselves as Labour voters.

So, what lies ahead for Brown and the party he wants so desperately to lead?

Michael Crick will be reporting from Scotland and we'll be talking live to Hazel Blears and the SNP leader, Alex Salmond.

Operation Crevice

Pressure is growing for a public inquiry into MI5's handling of intelligence before the 7 July bombings - despite yesterday's verdict, there are many questions yet to be answered.

Our correspondent Richard Watson, who first broke the story that Mohammed Sidique Khan was under surveillance a year before 7/7, has new detail on who knew what and when.

We'll be speaking to the former Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee Lord Tom King.

Iraq

Amid disputed reports that the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq has been killed, our diplomatic editor, Mark Urban - who is in Baghdad - has been talking to the Defence Secretary, Des Browne - and asking him whether the continued British presence in Iraq hasn't served merely to aggravate matters there.

Chinese maths puzzle

His encounter with A-level physics might not have been an unqualified success - but this hasn't stopped Steve Smith going where other science students may fear to tread.

He's taken his protractor and calculator to spend the afternoon with a software engineer from Shoreham who successfully solved a maths problem, taken from a Chinese university entry test, set by the Royal Society of Chemistry to illustrate how much Chinese science students are outstripping their UK counterparts.

Chinese maths puzzle solutions