BRITAIN: Some Labour voices were added to Conservative and Liberal Democrat demands for the resignations of Charles Clarke and John Prescott yesterday as Tory leader David Cameron claimed Tony Blair's government had suffered "an irreversible loss of authority".
On Mr Blair's ninth anniversary in Downing Street, and ahead of Thursday's English local elections, Mr Cameron derided home secretary Mr Clarke for "incompetence" over the foreign prisoners fiasco, and deputy prime minister Prescott for looking like "a damn fool" after admitting an affair with his former diary secretary. And he forecast: "A government that lives by headline will die by headline."
Amid doubts about Mr Blair's ability to execute a post-election cabinet reshuffle sufficiently radical to "refresh" his government, Mr Cameron said Britain needed "a replacement, not a reshuffle".
However, even as fresh headlines brought new allegations about Mr Prescott's personal life and fuelled uncertainty about Mr Clarke's ability to survive in his post, there was unexpected support for Mr Blair from former Labour deputy leader Roy Hattersley, now a lord.
Admitting his previous impatience to see Chancellor Gordon Brown replace Mr Blair, Lord Hattersley said: "During the last week, the political world has changed. The interests of the Labour Party - the underlying reason for wanting the prime minister to go - now require him to stay." Lord Hattersley told Guardian readers, "the orderly transition all sensible Labour supporters wish to see would be impossible against a background of headlines proclaiming that the Blair administration has ended in abject failure".
Noting that Mr Blair has been Labour's most successful leader electorally, Lord Hattersley argued: "A paradox it may be, but if his near-absolute reign ended with a forced abdication, the damage to the prospects of a genuine Labour government would be immense." He said the immediate need was for the party to "close ranks" and he branded suggestions of a possible backbench challenge to Mr Blair's leadership as "idiocy". He argued that "only Labour's enemies" would benefit from Mr Clarke's resignation.
However, that did not stop Labour MP Bob Wareing calling on Mr Clarke to quit, as the Conservatives demanded the home secretary make a Commons statement today on progress in the effort to track 1,023 foreign prisoners released from jail without being considered for deportation.
The pressure was maintained on Mr Clarke yesterday after the London Times revealed he had failed to tell Mr Blair the extent of the problem for three weeks after himself learning that prisoners convicted for serious crimes were among those released.
Meanwhile, Labour MP Stephen Pound suggested Mr Prescott should "consider his position", claiming the publicity about his affair was causing "huge problems" during Labour's local election campaigning. Yesterday there were allegations by two more women: a former Labour parliamentary candidate claimed she had a two-year affair with Mr Prescott 20 years ago, while a former party researcher alleged he sexually harassed her.