British Prime Minister Tony Blair was to set out a sweeping domestic agenda for his final term in office yesterday, hoping to secure a political legacy amid intense speculation about when he will step down as prime minister.
At the governing Labour Party's annual conference, all eyes have so far been on Blair's likely successor, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown.
In his keynote speech yesterday, Blair has the challenge of showing the party he is still in charge and full of ideas about how to run the country. Senior aides say he will not address the question on the minds of many delegates -- how long before he quits?
Cabinet minister Peter Hain insisted yesterday he expected Blair to serve a full five-year term.
"Tony Blair has been the most successful prime minister Labour has ever had ... and he has said he wants to serve another full term," Hain told the BBC. "A full term is exactly that. I expect him to do that."
Blair's wife Cherie laughed off suggestions that her husband was ready to resign.
"Darling that is a long way in the future," she told the BBC. "It is too far ahead for me to even think about yet."
Some commentators, however, believe Blair runs the risk of being a lame duck prime minister if he hangs on too long. His enthusiastic support of the US-led invasion of Iraq caused his popularity to slump, and although Labour won a third straight election earlier this year, its huge lead in parliament was slashed -- prompting questions about Blair's leadership and authority.
The conference is the first since Blair declared he would not seek a fourth term in office. Although he could serve as prime minister until 2010, some want a smooth hand-over to Brown sooner.
According to a new biography of Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, the senior Labour figure has urged Blair to step down in 2007 to give Brown time to prepare for an election and believes uncertainty about the timing could be a damaging distraction.
The party appears divided about when Blair should go. A poll published yesterday in The Guardian newspaper indicated that only 13 percent of Labour supporters want Blair to leave office now. The ICM survey showed 28 percent wanted him to resign within two years, 26 percent just before the next election and 30 percent wanted him to fight the next election.
ICM interviewed 1,009 adults last Friday and Saturday with a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.
The Labour Party surged to power in 1997 promising to overhaul the country's flagging schools and hospitals. Over the past eight years, the Labour government has encouraged private sector investment in state-run education and health care -- a blend of free market principles and social welfare that Blair hopes will help define his premiership.
A senior Downing Street official who briefed reporters in advance of Blair's speech said the prime minister would set out a wide-ranging policy agenda covering the economy, education, health, transport and law and order.
Blair's contention is that Labour must continue to modernize and dominate the center ground of British politics, rather than shift back to the left, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with Downing Street practice.
"It is this combination of detailed policy and New Labour values in the face of ever faster change that will secure a fourth successive Labour general election victory," Blair's text said.
The official said Blair would address the issue of Iraq in the speech, but would not raise the topic of when he will step down.
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