Blair resigns as prime minister

Tony Blair has stood down as UK prime minister after 10 years in the job.

He handed in his resignation to the Queen during a private meeting at Buckingham Palace.

His long-serving Chancellor Gordon Brown is now at the Palace where the Queen is asking him to take the job and form a new government.

Earlier, Mr Blair received a standing ovation from MPs in the Commons in unprecedented scenes at the end of his final prime minister's questions.

As they left Downing Street the Blair family - including their four children - posed for the gathered world media.

Mr Blair said nothing to the press as they got in the car, but wife Cherie smiled and waved at the press and said she would not "miss" them.

Earlier MPs from all sides called a halt to the usual House of Commons hostilities to pay tribute to him during Mr Blair's final half hour question time session.

Mr Blair admitted he had "never pretended to be a great House of Commons man" but he paid tribute to the "noble" work of MPs and - in his final words to Parliament - said: "I wish everyone, friend or foe, well and that is that, the end."

Mr Blair, who was being watched from the public gallery by his family, also paid tribute to troops killed in Iraq, saying he was "truly sorry about the dangers they face today".

Conservative leader David Cameron hailed Mr Blair's "remarkable achievement" in being prime minister for 10 years, praising peace in Northern Ireland and Mr Blair's work in the developing world which he said will "endure".

'Generosity'

He wished Mr Blair "every success for whatever he does in the future".

Mr Blair thanked Mr Cameron for his tributes and said although he could not wish the Tory leader well politically, "personally I wish both him and his family very well indeed".

Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell said that, despite their political disagreements, Mr Blair had been "unfailingly courteous" and extended his party's best wishes to the outgoing prime minister and his family.

Mr Blair returned the compliment, saying Sir Menzies had a "generosity of spirit and courtesy".

Mr Blair also exchanged tributes with Northern Ireland first minister Ian Paisley.

Middle East

To laughter from all sides, Mr Blair told MPs he had received his own P45 on Tuesday.

Asked to advise his successor Gordon Brown on the relationship between faith and the state, Mr Blair sparked more laughter by saying, after a brief pause: "I think I'm really not bothered about that one."

Mr Blair, expected to take on the role of Middle East envoy, told MPs he believed a solution could be found in the region but would take a "huge intensity of focus and work".

He told MPs: "As I learned in respect of Northern Ireland, it is important to be able to bring people together, including people who have been very hostile towards each other."

Cabinet reshuffle

The so-called "quartet" - of the UN, America, Russia and the EU - are thought likely to make an announcement on the job offer later.

For Mr Brown, who became Labour leader on Sunday, taking over as prime minister is the culmination of a political career stretching back to the early 1970s.

He is the longest serving chancellor in modern times and has been aiming for the top job since agreeing stand aside in 1994 to give Mr Blair a clear run at the Labour leadership.

After taking over as PM, he is expected to begin his Cabinet reshuffle by naming the next chancellor and home secretary.

A fuller reshuffle of government jobs is expected on Thursday.

Protesters

Mr Brown has singled out education and affordable housing as two of his key concerns on taking over as prime minister, but says the NHS is his "immediate priority".

He has also admitted that Iraq is "a divisive issue for our party and our country" and pledged to "learn lessons that need to be learned".

Once he leaves office, Mr Blair is expected to travel to his Sedgefield constituency, in the north east of England, on Wednesday evening to announce he is standing down as an MP after 24 years.

John Prescott is also stepping down from frontline politics after 10 years as deputy prime minister. It is not certain whether Mr Brown will appoint a replacement.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/uk_politics/6243558.stm

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if your back's against the wall, turn around and write on it...

I do not have all that it will take to master this awesome responsiblity.  But neither does anyone else.  And I am as least as able as anyone else.

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

I'll miss Tony Soprano even more than Tony Blair.

Susan 

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

My theory by A. Elk, brackets, Miss, brackets. This theory goes as follows and begins now. All brontosauruses are thin at one end, much much thicker in the middle, and then thin again at the far end. That is my theory, it is mine, and it belongs to me, and I own it, and what it is, too.

Ange's Odyssey

Phil-linda Blanc ponders...

What it would be like if we could return to the good old days of ______________ when England was England!

When PM/King _______________ did right by the People!

Ah, yes, those were the days back in ____________.

I wonder if it will ever be like THAT again?

Maybe it would, if only ______________ were elected Prime Minister.

He/she would be as good as _______________ and return us to those glory days of peace and prosperity, short work weeks and high pay, free housing, free transportation, free health care, free food and free education for all. And low taxes!

I miss the days of PM/King _____________'s reign.

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

Just think, Gordon "Stealth-Tax" Brown has had ten years to formulate his action plan on succeeding Blair as PM and leader of the Labour Party.

Should have some great ideas tucked up his sleeve by now...

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if your back's against the wall, turn around and write on it...