http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6639945.stm

Blair will stand down on 27 June

Tony Blair has announced he will stand down as prime minister on 27 June.

He made the announcement in a speech to party activists in his Sedgefield constituency, after earlier briefing the Cabinet on his plans.

He acknowledged his government had not always lived up to high expectations but said he had been very lucky to lead "the greatest nation on earth".

He will stay on in Downing Street until the Labour Party elects a new leader - widely expected to be Gordon Brown.

In an emotional speech, Mr Blair said he had been prime minister for 10 years which was "long enough" for the country and himself.

Brown tribute

Mr Blair earlier told the Cabinet he did not want ministers paying tribute to him, adding "that can be left for another day".

But as the meeting was breaking up, Mr Brown said he "did not think it would be right to let Cabinet finish without offering thanks to the prime minister".

He praised Mr Blair's "unique achievement over 10 years and the unique leadership he had given to the party, Britain and the world".

His comments were greeted by "much thumping of tables" by Mr Blair's colleagues, the prime minister's official spokesman told reporters.

Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain said it had been a "cordial, comradely" meeting with "quite a lot of laughter" and "leg-pulling".

Mr Hain, who is a candidate for Labour's deputy leadership, said Mr Brown would now "take up Tony Blair's mantle in the next period of our government".

The chancellor later made a joke about Mr Blair's departure plans in the Commons.

Answering a question on employment, he said: "There are of course 600,000 vacancies in the economy as a result of the... actually there's one more today as a result of announcements that have just been made."

'Good years'

Mr Blair's election agent and close friend John Burton said he expected Mr Blair to continue as Sedgefield's MP until the next general election, unless he was offered a major international job.

Former Cabinet minister and Blair ally Alan Milburn said thought the prime minister "slightly regretted pre-announcing his retirement" by saying he would not seek a fourth term.

"I think he would have preferred to stay longer," added Mr Milburn but he said the prime minister had had "a good 10 years" and had "fundamentally changed the country for the better".

Mr Blair's official spokesman insists he will remain "focused" on being prime minister until Labour has chosen his successor - a process expected to last seven weeks.

He said Mr Blair still has lots of work to do on domestic issues and had a number of international commitments in the run-up to this summer's G8 and EU summits.

But with a new prime minister expected to be in place by the beginning of July, attention at Westminster has already shifted to his succession.

Mr Brown is unlikely to face a Cabinet-level challenge for the leadership as all of the likely contenders have ruled themselves out.

But he could still face a challenge from one of two left wing backbenchers - John McDonnell and Michael Meacher. The pair are meeting later to see if one of them can muster enough support to get on to the ballot paper.

'Paralysis'

Candidates need the signatures of 45 Labour MPs to enter a contest.

Six deputy leadership hopefuls will also be battling for nominations to enter the race to replace John Prescott, who is due to stand down with Mr Blair.

Conservative leader David Cameron has said the country faces seven weeks of "paralysis" until Labour chooses a new leader, accusing Mr Blair of running a government of the "living dead".

The Liberal Democrats have, meanwhile, tabled a Parliamentary motion urging the Queen to dissolve parliament and call a general election.

But European Union Trade Commissioner and close Blair ally, Peter Mandelson, denied that Mr Blair's last weeks in office would be as a lame duck leader.

"'He's going of his own choice. He's doing it at a time which he thinks is good for the country, is good for the government."

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Hooray!!!!

The lying, sleazy prick is going!!!

See ya. Don't let the door hit you on the arse on yer way out. It'd bring shame on the door.

whadya think the odds are in vegas on bush doing the same?

bah, you beat me to it. *shakes fist*

So...how much different will Brown be from Blair? Also, when might the next election be?

yea i understand how the party leadership process works but how does the parliamentary election happen?

i have to wonder what the general public would think of blair if iraq never happened. he's done a lot of good for britain aside from that.

President Bush said today that Gordon Brown has a sound understanding of the threat that terrorism poses and will be a solid ally in the war on terror. So its all good.

Hahahahahahahahahaha

Brown is basically responsible for Britain's domestic policies- Blair landed the prime ministership by doing a deal with Brown, so Blair can take PM and deal with the foreign stuff while Brown looked after their own backyard.

I disagree with that assessment of the role of the Prime Minister/Chancellor of the Exchequer .

The Prime Ministers powers are a lot broader in scope than, for example, an American President . The Prime Minister is the leader of the cabinet, and appoints every cabinet minister. The Prime Minister is therefore ultimately responsible for all policies of the government. The PM also has the ultimate say on what legislation the government will introduce to Parliament.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer is responsible only for the economy, he decides the budget, tax policy etc. The Chancellor is accountable to the PM, but Blair has allowed Brown to operate without much interference for the past ten years. It has been said that he is the most powerful chancellor in history.

From reading the comments on here you would think that the public opinion of Blair is something akin to that of George Bush or, worse still, Margaret Thatcher, which is certainly not the case. If it hadn't been for Blair's one major error of judgement on the Iraq war, he would probably be considered to be the greatest Prime Minister in our history. It is my view that he is the greatest Prime Minister in our history even despite this error.

His many achievements are too numerous to mention here, but here are a few: Record investment in schools are hospitals, introduction of the minimum wage, near elimination of unemployment, devolution for Scotland and Wales, scrapping of Hereditary Peers in the House of Lords, banning handguns and banning fox-hunting.

Of course his main achievement is completely destroying the Tory Party, and I'm sure Gordon Brown will be more than capable of continuing on the good work and will hopefully keep the scum in their place for another 10 years at least.

Labour party members will vote for the next leader of the Labour Party (Gordon Brown) who automatically becomes Prime Minister. The Prime Minister decides when to call the next general election, which must be within 5 years of the last one. So Brown could hold off until 2010 at the latest, but will more likely call one in 2009, assuming he is confident of winning it at that time.

W-e-e-e-e-ell.... yes and no. PFI Hospitals and Academies and an erosion of civil liberties are big blights. But I can't fault him for his attitude to Northern Ireland. He put in an awful lot of effort with us and, although it was a rocky road, the end result is (so far) looking good.

Nice analysis. One commentator said that one of Blair's greatest achievements was to actually shift the Tories into being more touchy-feeling and centrist (or at least, producing such a facade). I do hope that Old Etonian slimeball Cameron doesn't get elected, though.

Speaking as someone who remembers what it was like to live under thatcherism, Blair was a breath of fresh air. He reformed the health service, education and social security. All I know is, 10 years after a Blairite Labour government my family are a lot better off.

Oh, and he oversaw the reformation in this part of the world. Who would've thought Paisley and McGuinness sharing power, never mind speaking. Nevermind being in the same room. For that, Blair deserves credit.

And lets remember that was during Blair period that the british economy surpassed the french economy, its always fun to beat the frenchs.

I don't know enough about England to be positive about this, but I've heard several times that all the dirty job made by Thatcher is what allowed the good things Blair did. Or is it complete bullshit ?

how long until the brits start missing him? i predict june 28th

Humm, somehow Thactcher worked like a very bitter neoliberal medicine.