Blair should carry on - Falconer

Mr Blair will step down as leader before the next general election

Tony Blair is still the right person to be prime minister, according to one of his closest political allies.

Lord Falconer told the BBC that "this is not the time to try to change the leader".

The lord chancellor said there were plenty of policy issues for Mr Blair to deal with first.

Culture secretary Tessa Jowell said on Saturday Mr Blair's plans to step down before the next election were causing uncertainty.

'Constant discussion'

Lord Falconer said: "If you talk to people their concerns are not when is Tony Blair going to go and Gordon Brown take over.

"Their concerns are issues like security at home, the situation abroad, community cohesion.

When there are so many issues in the in-tray that need to be addressed by the prime minister, now is not the time Lord Falconer

"So the constant discussion of when is Tony going to go is not the right focus, and indeed it's not where the prime minister's focus is."

"This is not the time to change a leader, this is the time to be talking about how we're going to improve schools, how we're going to improve the health service."

He said the focus should continue to be on issues such as economic stability and public service reform.

"Also, he [Mr Blair] has led this country extremely effectively through the post-terror period from 2001 and I think the right thing to do is to focus on those issues at the moment, and that is what he's doing."

And he said while Mr Blair had made it clear he would not fight the next election as leader the next leader would have "ample time" to settle in.

"There will come a time when it is appropriate but 15 months from the last election when there are so many issues in the in-tray that need to be addressed by the prime minister, now is not the time."

Ms Jowell told the BBC speculation about a change of leadership was part of the Westminster "soap opera" but that there was a "sense of uncertainty" on this issue.