Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Blair: Going nowhere fast

politicalbetting.com reports that Ladbrokes have begun taking bets on whether Tony Blair fight and win the next General Election and stay at Number 10. The odds offered are 16/1, and even though such a bet necessarily involves leaving your money with the bookies for anything up to five years, it may well be worth a punt.

There is a lot of wishful thinking about Blair's detractors' belief that he is bound to quietly make way for Gordon Brown in a year or two. The prospect of being prime minister when the Olympics come to London must be an enticing one for Blair. He has a love of playing the world statesman and a weakness for prestige projects. Remember "The Millennium Dome will be the first line of the next Labour manifesto"?

At the same time, terrorism and the international situation are likley to offer him every pretext he could want for announcing that it would be unwise for him to step down.

But surely Mr Blair has given his solemn word that he will not lead Labour into another election?

You're new to this politics lark, aren't you?

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