Blair: Labour 'to decide my future'

Speculation about his future has followed Tony Blair in recent weeks

Tony Blair has said it is up to the Labour Party to decide whether he should resign as leader.

The prime minister had previously pledged to quit if his leadership became an electoral liability to his party.

But asked on BBC Radio 4's The World This Weekend how he would know when that was, he replied: "I don't know. It is really for the party to decide."

His words came against the backdrop of a final frantic campaign push by the main political parties ahead of Thursday's European elections.

The Liberal Democrats have highlighted Mr Blair's absence from Labour leaflets for the elections, saying his record on issues such as Iraq and student top-up fees have gone against him.

Mr Blair added: "The ultimate judgment is made by the British people - but I am up for it.

"We have made genuine improvements in the last seven years, and there is a job of work to be done, and I want to see it through.

Most people would give their eye-teeth to be where Britain is Prime Minister Tony Blair

"And I don't say that - I hope - with any sense of arrogance but with a sense of genuine commitment and conviction about what I am doing."

Mr Blair said he was a conviction politician and this had led him into problems such as the war in Iraq.

"My problem... has always been that I have got a very clear view of what progressive politics is about.

"And some of that crosses traditional left-right lines, and when that happens people say, 'You're not really a politician of principle'."

Mr Blair also expressed disappointment Britain remained so eurosceptic.

"Most people would give their eye-teeth to be where Britain is," he said.

"We are the strongest ally of the world's only super power, and we are members of the most important political and economic union in the world.

"Why not celebrate both and keep both."