BRITAIN: Conservative leader Michael Howard launched a fresh attack on British prime minister Tony Blair yesterday, challenging him to resign on the basis that the premier's decision not to fight the next election meant he was "no longer accountable to the British people".
The attack came as the cabinet rallied behind Mr Blair in the aftermath of his first-ever Commons defeat over his government's proposal to allow police to hold terror suspects for 90 days without charge - a defeat which one Blair loyalist actually suggested had enhanced the prime minister's authority.
Chancellor Gordon Brown also moved to quell talk of mutiny in the Labour ranks last night by reminding people it was "only six months" since Mr Blair had won a historic third term for Labour on a reform manifesto agreed by all the cabinet.
The affirmations of loyalty came after an unrepentant Mr Blair told the cabinet there was "a worrying gap between parts of parliament and the reality of the terrorist threat and public opinion".
But in a fresh broadside following Mr Blair's sensational Commons defeat, Mr Howard repeated his view that the prime minister should resign. Speaking on BBC2's Daily Politics programme, Mr Howard said: "Yes, because I think we have seen that his authority has disappeared to vanishing point."
While acknowledging that Mr Blair's critics would be unable to win a "confidence" vote in the Commons, Mr Howard said Mr Blair's defeat by a 31-vote margin was "an utter humiliation". And he raised the possibility that Mr Blair could be forced from office by Christmas of next year. Asked about Mr Blair's survival prospects, Mr Howard replied: "By this Christmas, probably. But by next Christmas? A different matter."
Emboldened by his first-ever defeat of Mr Blair, the departing Tory leader extended his attack, suggesting it was a fundamental feature of democracy that prime ministers offered a programme for government and were then judged on their performance in the following general election.
"The country can't hold Mr Blair to account," argued Mr Howard. "He is no longer accountable, he has said he is not going to stand for election again." And he maintained: "These are uncharted waters and when we have a prime minister who is not accountable to the country, then I think we have a state of affairs which is going to give rise to more and more occurrences such as we saw on Wednesday."
Mr Howard added: "I think it is a fundamentally unhealthy situation and it reinforces my view that it would be best for the country if he were to step aside."
However, as the ultra-loyal Home Secretary Charles Clarke sought to carry the can for the decision to force the vote on the 90-day issue, Defence Secretary John Reid said Tory leadership contenders David Cameron and David Davis had "crippled" themselves politically by going along with Mr Howard's opposition to a proposal backed by police chiefs, security professionals and public opinion.
Denying that Mr Blair's authority had been damaged and that he would now find it difficult to push through his domestic policy agenda, Dr Reid insisted: "If anything [ Mr Blair's] authority has been enhanced.When you look at the position he took and the position other would-be leaders took, I have no doubt that his stature has been enhanced." The Tories, claimed Dr Reid, had made "a huge mistake" by voting against 90 days. "I believe that both Davis and Cameron are now crippled if they become leader of the Conservative Party because they are on the wrong side of the argument about national security."
However, some of the Labour MPs "on the wrong side" of that argument repeated warnings that Mr Blair would have to change his leadership style to avoid further defeats in the coming months. Former health secretary Frank Dobson said: "Quite a number of people who voted with the government told me there is no question of them supporting the Education White Paper or plans to privatise parts of the National Health Service." And fellow backbencher Paul Farrelly warned there would be "hell to pay" if the prime minister used the same leadership style on health and education reforms.
Denying suggestions that he had wanted to compromise but had been railroaded by the prime minister, Mr Clarke said he personally had wrongly concluded he could win the 90-day argument: "Mr Blair is nothing like the private dictator that he is sometimes portrayed as being."