Execution Date Awaits Tony Blair

TheAge.com
Se[tempber 9, 2006

How long can Tony Blair stay? Will he make it to Christmas? The questions abounded after Mr Blair announced on Thursday (early yesterday Melbourne time) that he would quit within a year, but defiantly resisted calls to set an exact time. Mr Blair insisted on going his own way, believing that a use-by date would leave him fatally undermined. He is already.

There remains a frail hope that Mr Blair can choose the terms of his retirement, provide the 'stable and orderly transition' he has promised, and give Labour the best chance of winning the next election, due most likely in 2009.

That hope depends on the Prime Minister himself but even more on Mr Brown, almost certainly Britain's next prime minister. Like two old lovers who long ago lost the light in their eyes, they must take the floor and, before an out-of-tune band and a thinning crowd, dance their last waltz. The party depends on it.