British Prime Minister Tony Blair has gambled his career by deciding to hold a referendum on the proposed EU constitution, newspapers agreed yesterday.
The move, announced by Blair in parliament on Tuesday, was attacked by much of the press as a bid to gain political advantage domestically rather than being motivated by a commitment to democracy.
"Blair gambles his career on Europe verdict," said the Times on its front page.
The right-wing paper said Blair had made the "most complete U-turn of his premiership" and left "serious questions over whether he could survive a defeat" in a referendum, the date of which has not been revealed.
The Financial Times accused Blair of "grubby opportunism." It said he had been compelled to "cast aside his principled objections to a referendum for political expediency" in a move likely to help him in the next general election, expected in the first half of next year.
The right-wing Daily Express believed that Blair was doing the right thing but for the wrong reason.
"Mr Blair is not canvassing our opinion. He is simply robbing his critics of a stick with which to beat him," the paper said in an editorial.
The left-wing Daily Mirror said that Blair had "cleverly neutralized" what Britain's main opposition Conservatives hoped to make the major issue of the next general election, and so given his ruling Labour party a huge boost.
A referendum had long been sought by Britain's numerous eurosceptics, including the Conservatives, while Blair had come in for increasing criticism over his previous insistence that a plebiscite was not needed.
The Daily Mirror concluded that Blair "cannot survive losing this referendum -- too much is at stake."
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw rejected such talk in an interview on BBC television late on Tuesday.
"Of course he wouldn't," he said, when asked if Blair would step down if he lost.
"In referendums which have been held in other countries, Sweden and Denmark for example, or Ireland, when the referendum decision has gone against the head of government it has not led to resignations. Why should it?" Straw said.
"Blair stakes his future on Britain's place in EU" was the front page headline in the right-wing Daily Telegraph, which said Blair had "executed the biggest and most humiliating about-turn of his career."
Defeat in the ballot "would undermine the central thrust of Labour policy and call his future into question," the paper said, adding that while Blair had taken "a calculated risk," it was also "a demonstration of his political survival instinct."
"Frustrated on other fronts -- Iraq, immigration, public services -- and with [finance minister] Gordon Brown impatient to succeed him, Mr Blair has decided to change the subject: to Europe," the paper said in an editorial comment.
The left-wing Guardian said it was in Britain's interests to sign the draft constitution and Blair had made a "good start to a long campaign."
It added, however, that Blair had "issued his call to arms as a tactical ploy rather than as a clarion call."
The Sun, right-wing and fiercely eurosceptic, reported that 34,559 of its readers had rung in to voice their opposition to "handing more power to Brussels," while just 939 had said they were in favor of the constitution -- which EU leaders aim to approve in principle in June.
The tabloid, Britain's biggest selling daily, called for a referendum to be held as soon as possible.
The paper's political editor, Trevor Kavanagh, said Blair had "enraged allies in France and Germany by putting the whole EU edifice at risk by putting the constitution to a vote he cannot win."
The constitution must be ratified by all EU states to come into effect.
Reports have suggested that media baron Rupert Murdoch -- who owns the Sun and the Times -- has made it clear he could not support the re-election of a Labour government unless it offered a referendum.
The backing of the Sun was seen by many as crucial in helping Blair come to power in 1997.
‘CHILD PORNOGRAPHY’: The doll on Shein’s Web site measure about 80cm in height, and it was holding a teddy bear in a photo published by a daily newspaper France’s anti-fraud unit on Saturday said it had reported Asian e-commerce giant Shein (希音) for selling what it described as “sex dolls with a childlike appearance.” The French Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) said in a statement that the “description and categorization” of the items on Shein’s Web site “make it difficult to doubt the child pornography nature of the content.” Shortly after the statement, Shein announced that the dolls in question had been withdrawn from its platform and that it had launched an internal inquiry. On its Web site, Le Parisien daily published a
China’s Shenzhou-20 crewed spacecraft has delayed its return mission to Earth after the vessel was possibly hit by tiny bits of space debris, the country’s human spaceflight agency said yesterday, an unusual situation that could disrupt the operation of the country’s space station Tiangong. An impact analysis and risk assessment are underway, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said in a statement, without providing a new schedule for the return mission, which was originally set to land in northern China yesterday. The delay highlights the danger to space travel posed by increasing amounts of debris, such as discarded launch vehicles or vessel
RUBBER STAMP? The latest legislative session was the most productive in the number of bills passed, but critics attributed it to a lack of dissenting voices On their last day at work, Hong Kong’s lawmakers — the first batch chosen under Beijing’s mantra of “patriots administering Hong Kong” — posed for group pictures, celebrating a job well done after four years of opposition-free politics. However, despite their smiles, about one-third of the Legislative Council will not seek another term in next month’s election, with the self-described non-establishment figure Tik Chi-yuen (狄志遠) being among those bowing out. “It used to be that [the legislature] had the benefit of free expression... Now it is more uniform. There are multiple voices, but they are not diverse enough,” Tik said, comparing it
Prime ministers, presidents and royalty on Saturday descended on Cairo to attend the spectacle-laden inauguration of a sprawling new museum built near the pyramids to house one of the world’s richest collections of antiquities. The inauguration of the Grand Egyptian Museum, or GEM, marks the end of a two-decade construction effort hampered by the Arab Spring uprisings, the COVID-19 pandemic and wars in neighboring countries. “We’ve all dreamed of this project and whether it would really come true,” Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly told a news conference, calling the museum a “gift from Egypt to the whole world from a
RSS