British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in a Sunday newspaper interview, said that despite the "lumps" of his job, he fully intends to seek re-election for a third term in Downing Street.
Speaking with the News of the World newspaper, Blair said he wants to stay in power despite experiencing one of his worst months in office since he first led his Labour party to victory in May 1997.
"You have people kicking lumps out of you, but you can live with it, and I do," he told the mass circulation Sunday newspaper.
"Whatever the problems and pressures this is an immensely enjoyable and fulfilling job and I intend to carry on doing it. I will be putting myself forward."
Political analysts expect Blair -- who won re-election in 2001 -- to call an election in the first half of 2005, though Labour's current five-year term doesn't expire until 2006.
Blair's popularity in the opinion polls has slipped since the Iraq war, and last month his government escaped serious criticism from a judicial inquiry into the suicide of Iraq weapons expert David Kelly.
Kelly, who killed himself in July last year, was the source of a BBC news report two months earlier which alleged that Blair's inner circle embellished intelligence in the run-up to the March 2002 US-led invasion of Iraq.
Blair also narrowly survived a parliamentary vote last month on plans to increase university tuition fees, an idea opposed by many members of parliament within his own Labour party.
In an opinion poll for The Independent newspaper, published Feb. 6, 51 percent of respondents agreed when asked if the time had come for Blair to resign and hand over the reins of power to someone else.
Despite his slump in popularity, Blair's Labour government continues to enjoy a lead in the polls over the main opposition Conservatives.
Blair's interview with the News of the World was his first since Lord Brian Hutton's findings into the Kelly affair, released on Jan. 28, in which the judge concentrated his criticism on the BBC.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number