Iraq torments Blair as political troubles deepen

Speculation about the future of Tony Blair intensified yesterday with an opinion poll showing waning support for the British prime minister and a newspaper saying top members of his cabinet had discussed his succession.

Mired in crisis over Iraq, Blair faces increasing calls to stand down, some from Labour party members worried that their leader and one-time best electoral asset, who has led them to two election victories, is now a liability.

An opinion survey found nearly half of voters thought he should go before the next election, expected around next May.

And support from key allies - two senior ministers insisted yesterday that Blair would stay put - and his own vow to fight on have done little to quell speculation he may quit.

The Sunday Herald reported that Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, who is favourite to succeed Blair, discussed the succession at length in a car in Scotland last weekend.

The Scottish paper cited sources close to Prescott as saying the two talked about prospects for a "peaceful succession" and how the deputy prime minister could help to arrange a leadership contest that would unite rather than divide their party.

Prescott said in the Times newspaper on Saturday that senior ministers had discussed a future without Blair, but he later played down the significance of his comments, saying there had been leadership speculation, but there was no race for the prime minister's position.

The Sunday Times, whose YouGov poll published yesterday showed nearly half of voters think Blair should step down before the next election, reported that senior party figures were positioning themselves ahead of a possible leadership change.

It said Brown's allies had made detailed plans for a government led by him after a handover by Blair at Labour's party conference in the autumn.

Suffering the mid-term blues after seven years in power, Labour is braced for a trouncing in municipal council and European Parliament elections on June 10 - hurt most by the crisis over Iraq.

While the party is still widely expected to win the next general election, commentators say the speculation swirling around Blair, which would have been unthinkable even a few months ago, makes him weaker than ever.