Thu, Apr 22, 2004 page7

• Press flay Blair over referendum

  POLITICAL ADVANTAGE The British prime minister received a degree of credit from left-leaning newspapers over the EU poll, but most pilloried him as an opportunist

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  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.
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