Blair 'won't go before Iraq poll'

Tony Blair wants to see things through in Iraq

Tony Blair has said he will stay as prime minister at least until after Iraq's elections next year, according to the Observer newspaper.

The claim comes after John Prescott said ministers were speculating about what would happen should Mr Blair step down.

Speaking to the Times, the deputy prime minister spoke of people "repositioning themselves".

Opposition politicians argued this was an implicit message to Mr Blair that it was time to step down.

But an unnamed friend of Mr Blair told the Observer the prime minister was determined to stay on until Iraq had established a stable democracy.

"His view is 'I got us into this, I'm not going to walk away while we are still in the middle of it'," the source said.

"We have got some important milestones coming up, like January of next year when we have got elections in Iraq," he added.

"Once we got into the autumn I certainly can't see him going, even if things do get worse in Iraq."

'Ministerial manoeuvres'

On Sunday, former Foreign Secretary Robin Cook urged Mr Blair to draw up a policy for withdrawing British forces from Iraq.

" I personally think we need an exit strategy that says as soon as elections have been held, as soon as there is a democratic government to run Iraq, we're getting out," he told the Sunday Programme on GMTV.

On Friday, Mr Blair dismissed reports he was thinking about letting Mr Brown take over as prime minister as "froth".

His intentions after the next general election, expected in 12 months time, are surrounded by speculation.

According to a Yougov poll for the Sunday Times, almost half of voters - 46% - said he should go before then.

Another 22% wanted him to go soon after, while 20% say he should stay on.

Labour peer and former chancellor Lord Healey compared Tony Blair to Margaret Thatcher towards the end of her time in office.

"Like Maggie Thatcher at the end of her period he's making more and more mistakes."

"It's not just Iraq, it's foundation hospitals, it's the about-turn on the European referendum, it's university tuition fees - all those things are going wrong."

He added: "I think there's a growing feeling in the party and the country that it's time for someone else to take over."

His view is 'I got us into this, I'm not going to walk away while we are still in the middle of it' Unnamed source, on Tony Blair's intentions

After his Times interview was published on Saturday, Mr Prescott issued a statement denying there was any "race for the prime minister's position".

But his comments fuelled rumours that Mr Blair's closest collaborators were advising him that stepping down would be in the interest of Labour.

Tory chairman Liam Fox told ITV News: "We have a weakened prime minister who has been there for over seven years.

"We have an ambitious chancellor who is desperate to get to No 10, the Cabinet ministers manoeuvring for position and a deputy prime minister who is supposedly there to make the peace, but keeps making things worse for them all."

Vince Cable, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, said: "I think he is trying to send a signal to his boss that his position is very insecure."

Meanwhile, Scotland's Sunday Herald newspaper reported that Mr Prescott and Chancellor Gordon Brown had a private meeting about the Labour Party succession in the back of a ministerial Jaguar in the car park of an Argyll restaurant last Sunday.