BLAIR TO QUIT WITHIN YEAR

By Paul Majendie and David Clarke September 7, 2006

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair moved to end a growing revolt in his Labour Party on Thursday by pledging to quit within a year but failed to silence critics who say a speedy change of leader is needed to win back voters.

Blair was forced to give his clearest indication on when he would stand down after nearly a decade in power and three election victories by a week of government resignations and calls from former allies for him to go.

Political analysts said Blair had done enough to end talk of an immediate resignation but some Labour lawmakers said he should have named a precise date for his departure.

"There are still people who would like him to go immediately and there are still people who will press for a date, a specific date. So the issue won't go away altogether but the immediate crisis has been defused," Wyn Grant, professor of politics, at Warwick University, told Reuters.

Blair's popularity has tumbled in opinion polls after government scandals over sleaze and mismanagement were compounded by controversy over the wars in Iraq and Lebanon.

The prime minister said in a televised statement after a visit to a London school that this month's annual conference of Britain's ruling party would be his last as leader.

But he said: "I'm not going to set a precise date now, I don't think that's right. I will do that at a future date and I'll do it in the interests of the country."

His finance minister and expected successor, Gordon Brown, who has had a tense relationship with Blair, said earlier he would support the prime minister's decision but stressed it must be in the interests of the party and the country.

The political uncertainty weighed on sterling, helping push it to a one-month low against the dollar.

NOT ENOUGH DETAIL

By not giving a precise timetable, Blair may not have done enough to quell the worst crisis of his political career and end the party bickering, some Labour lawmakers said.

"It does not seem to me that the public know any more about the prime minister's retirement plans," said Doug Henderson, a close Brown ally.

"People keep saying to me that the Labour Party must have a clear direction forward with clear priorities and a new leader before the (local) elections in 2007."

Hailed as a hero after dragging the Labour Party out of 18 years in the political wilderness, Blair has seen his support ebbing away in a decline mirroring the dramatic slide in Margaret Thatcher's fortunes at the end of her premiership.

"Like Thatcher, I think he has come to a point in his political life when he has outlived his usefulnesss and his purpose," said Martin Fry, 48, a public sector worker who described himself as a traditional Conservative Party voter.

"He was the right person at the right time when he came into power but times have changed."

With party colleagues running scared about Blair's growing unpopularity and losing their jobs at the next election, a junior minister and seven government aides quit on Wednesday after calling on him to step down now.