Blair faces rough ride on reforms

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said yesterday he was determined to push through health and education reforms as he fights to maintain his authority after his first ever parliamentary defeat last week.

Mr Blair, Prime Minister since his centre-left Labour Party won a landslide victory in 1997, was weakened by the 2003 Iraq war. Critics say he has been a lame duck since last year, when he vowed to stand down before the next election due in 2009.

Last week's heavy defeat over anti-terrorism laws which opponents said infringed civil rights, has fuelled speculation about Mr Blair's departure and ability to see through planned reforms which many in his party oppose. But Mr Blair is in defiant mood.

He said the blow had not diminished his resolve to press ahead with plans for schools, hospitals and welfare benefits.

"This will require more difficult decisions and strong leadership. Sometimes, as with this week, I'll be given a very rough ride," he wrote in the News of the World newspaper.

"But there is no doubt it will be worth it if, as a result, Britain is better, fairer and stronger."

Some commentators have drawn parallels between Mr Blair's attitude and what they describe as Margaret Thatcher's headstrong self-belief before she was ousted by her party.

Many Labour members are alarmed by Mr Blair's style and some policies but most have stopped short of calling for him to quit.

Former Cabinet Minister Frank Dobson said the Prime Minister could not simply shout at people.

"He's going to have to listen and hear. I don't want to change the Prime Minister, I just want him to change his ways," Mr Dobson told ITV.

Mr Blair declined to make the anti-terrorism vote an issue of confidence, arguing the proposals, which followed July's deadly London bombings, were not in Labour's election manifesto.

However, defeats on policies at the heart of his programme would be seriously damaging, even fatal, for Mr Blair.

Many Labour parliamentarians have deep reservations about plans to give more independence to schools, increase the role of the private sector in hospitals and cut benefits for the sick.

Crunch votes are due early next year and next May's local elections will be a crucial test for Mr Blair.

Even Mr Blair allies say they may have to adapt their approach.

"What we all accept is that whereas in the past we have had a periodic engagement involving backbenchers, we need to do that in a completely different way and on a completely different scale," said Mr Blair loyalist and Cabinet Minister Tessa Jowell.

Finance Minister Gordon Brown, Mr Blair's most likely successor, said people felt politicians and the public had to "connect more successfully". But he backed Mr Blair's programme and has so far declined to call for him to step aside.

"I really don't at this stage think that personalities or individuals come into it," he told the Independent on Sunday.