Rhino
05-10-2007, 08:10 AM
British Prime Minister Tony Blair to Step Down on June 27
Thursday, May 10, 2007
TRIMDON, England — British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Thursday he is stepping down on June 27, closing a decade of power in which he fostered peace in Northern Ireland, presided over an unprecedented period of prosperity and followed the United States to war in Iraq.
In a somber farewell, Blair moved to secure the party's future with a smooth transition to power. The British leader looked overcome with emotion, struggling to retain his trademark broad grin as loud cheers rang out.
"Hand on heart, I did what I thought was right," Blair told party workers and supporters at Trimdon Labour Club in his Sedgefield constituency in northern England. "I may have been wrong, but that's your call. But believe one thing if nothing else. I did what I thought was right for our country."
Blair's earnest announcement, which lacked his usual slick spin, had been long expected. But he kept the timing a secret almost to the end.
In British parliamentary tradition, the leader of the largest party in the House of Commons serves as prime minister. Treasury chief Gordon Brown, Blair's partner in reforming the Labour Party and a sometimes impatient rival in government, was expected to easily win election as the party's new leader and become the next prime minister.....http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,271192,00.html
Thursday, May 10, 2007
TRIMDON, England — British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Thursday he is stepping down on June 27, closing a decade of power in which he fostered peace in Northern Ireland, presided over an unprecedented period of prosperity and followed the United States to war in Iraq.
In a somber farewell, Blair moved to secure the party's future with a smooth transition to power. The British leader looked overcome with emotion, struggling to retain his trademark broad grin as loud cheers rang out.
"Hand on heart, I did what I thought was right," Blair told party workers and supporters at Trimdon Labour Club in his Sedgefield constituency in northern England. "I may have been wrong, but that's your call. But believe one thing if nothing else. I did what I thought was right for our country."
Blair's earnest announcement, which lacked his usual slick spin, had been long expected. But he kept the timing a secret almost to the end.
In British parliamentary tradition, the leader of the largest party in the House of Commons serves as prime minister. Treasury chief Gordon Brown, Blair's partner in reforming the Labour Party and a sometimes impatient rival in government, was expected to easily win election as the party's new leader and become the next prime minister.....http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,271192,00.html