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Last updated at 22:45pm on 5th September 2006

Tony Blair has sensationally caved in to pressure and named May 31 next year as the date for his resignation.

Downing Street let slip that he will announce his departure just weeks after his tenth anniversary as Premier, and walk out of Number 10 eight weeks later, on July 26.

But the news, leaked to the Labour-supporting Sun newspaper, left MPs baffled after it emerged that Gordon Brown has not been consulted.

DailyMail

I'm no fan of 'saint blair'. His policies on so many issues suck, but he has been a good 'leader' of the nation (just compare him to Bush!).

If I was Blair, I'd have those back stabbing MPs hauled into a room, and SHOT.

Its amazing, and very much a mirror of what happened with Thatcher. Both Blair and Thatcher did so much for both their parties, only to be betrayed after a decade of service.

I hope Blair comes out fighting, and doesn't go out quietly.

Calrissian: surprisingly, sympathetic to the First Lord of the Treasury.

Impertinent of me, as a foreigner to comment....

However, I'd followed the fortunes of the Labour Party since 1985, and 2nd May 1997 brings back good memories.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/date ... 480505.stm

I hope Tony's 'retirement' brings good things, a bit more time with his family, etc.

Remember the controversy when he said on Parkinson, that he believed God and history would judge him! But he said 'judge' - not 'applaud'.

Whereas one gets the impression that Bush has no doubt that God is on 'his' side, I think Blair has tried to do the right thing, and has hoped his decisions were wise. How many of us would like to know that our actions had inadvertently meant that some innocent people went to their death?

Living in a town which is notoriously crippled by the actions of elected representatives in local government, who are determined to maintain power, and score points, rather than act for the greater good, I wish we'd a few more like Blair here.

Blair has done a very good job, and has carried a less than fantastic team. Anyone who lived through the 80's and saw the mess left behind by the wicked witch of Grantham will fully appreciate the great state this nation is in. Don't get me wrong, its by no means perfect, but history will judge TB to be the best post war PM by a long way.

Yes, it hasn't been a bad term, overall. The economy seems in a good shape, unemployment is relatively low, interest rates are still low-ish. However, in recent years the war on terrorism seems to have been an excuse to bring in eastern European style monitoring of the citizens. I do think that Labour is slowly eroding the fun out of living. We seem to be taxed more, charged more, monitored more, fined trivially more, services such as rail and health are at breaking point, and we have an unhealthily-strong relationship with the tackiest nation on earth, run by the most insane leader in the world.

I wish we could remove this electoral system. And vote in the Greens. Climate change is a much bigger global threat than terrorism.

Sadly I think that any good done in this country by Tony Blair's Labour government will always be overshadowed by the controversy over the war in Iraq. It will be the issue that defines the era and will dog him for the rest of his life -whether he was right or wrong.

Originally I was in favour of finding Saddam Hussein. However, I think the threat of terrorism in the UK is now much more than ever, and is directly linked to the presence of UK troops in the Middle East and Afghanistan, and our alliance with the US and their long-standing support of Israel. We should pull our troops out, let the locals carry on murdering each other, and let the military get on with the job of defending the UK from the UK.

Friday, September 08, 2006
The Age

Execution date awaits Tony Blair

How can he stay? Think of the months ahead: Labour falling further in the polls, the Tories gloating, neither journalists nor public servants nor the world at large paying any heed to his policy statements because they might soon be undone.

Imagine a cabinet meeting where he and his successor-in-waiting, Chancellor Gordon Brown, butt heads on a vital issue: what minister is going to back the Prime Minister when he'll soon be gone?

Hear the constant talk of frozen government, panicked MPs calling for renewal to counter a resurgent Conservative Party, the tedious demand every time he fronts a microphone: when are you going?

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.

Come on Mr Blair, when are you going? Give us a clue!

It's a song...Two words... choking? breathing? strangling? The Stranglers! Golden Brown!