The Hindu Business Line : <I>Besieged Blair </I>

One thought politicians indulging in toppling games were a common sight only in countries marked by perpetual political vendettas. We do not associate such sordid happenings with long-standing and well-grounded democracies, such as those of the UK, France and the US.

That is why what is happening to the Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, in the UK, passes all comprehension. Knives have been out against him for quite some time, and he has been a helpless witness to the rapid erosion of his political support base among not only back-benchers and his frontline colleagues, but also the trade union leaders who seem to be smelling a debacle at the 2009 election were Mr Blair to prolong the state of uncertainty over his plans.

His Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr Gordon Brown, while maintaining appearances, has all but thrown his hat in the ring, giving every kind of signal that the sooner Mr Blair made way for him to get into 10 Downing Street, the better. Recently, a junior minister and seven aides, who were part of the governing Labour establishment, resigned en bloc leaving Mr Blair in no doubt that they wanted him to quit on a precise date to be announced without delay. The mood in the country is so `poisonous' that in a snap poll, 58 per cent wanted Mr Blair to resign before the end of the year and 44 per cent as early as this month.

Mr Blair has so far been brazening it out. And well he might. It is hard for a disinterested observer from the outside to make out what all the fuss and pother are about, unless it be a case of "Blair-fatigue" and everyone would like to see a new face. Iraq and Lebanon are sometimes trotted out as the sins of Mr Blair, but the blame attaches not just to him but to his party leadership, and indeed, his political opponents, as a whole. Mr Blair has shown good political sense in sticking to his guns, as any other course would expose future leaders of whatever party to similar blackmailing tactics. He owes it to them to stand his ground.

B. S. RAGHAVAN