BRITAIN: British prime minister Tony Blair has dismissed suggestions that he should stand down in the autumn, amid evidence of tension among Labour witnesses in the police investigation into the alleged "cash for honours" scandal.
Shrugging-off the latest call for his early departure from Labour grandee Lord Hattersley, Mr Blair insisted his government retained "a strong sense of direction", and actually suggested he might still be in the post for next year's G8 Summit.
In an interview for GMTV's Sunday Programme, Lord Hattersley said he was sure Mr Blair and his personal fund-raiser, Lord Levy, were innocent of any wrongdoing.
However, he urged Mr Blair to go out "on a high note" at Labour's September conference, warning that it would be "impossible to put new life into the party" should the prime minister stay on into 2007.
But in an interview for the BBC's Politics Show, Mr Blair again refused to get into "a great bout of speculation" about the timetable for his eventual departure, insisting he was looking forward to another G8, asserting: "I have made it clear all the way through - I carry on doing the job."
Mr Blair said he did not believe anybody in the Labour Party had broken the rules or sold honours for financial backing, while declining to say whether he expected to be interviewed by police investigating the allegations.
However, he also acknowledged that public "perception" was a real problem while the inquiry continued.
"Perception is a real problem and obviously one of the biggest worries in this is that whilst the police inquiry goes on, effectively everyone gets tried in the media, which is not always the most objective and impartial on these issues," Mr Blair said.
However, the media was but the messenger yesterday with a series of stories suggesting Mr Blair's real problem is with a police investigation, said to have uncovered a paper trail going to "the heart of Downing Street".
This was coupled with the reported comments of "friends" of Lord Levy reinforcing the belief that Labour's so-called "Mr Cashpoint" is not prepared to be "the scapegoat" for this affair.