Byers warning on Blair future

May 3 2004 By Graeme Whitfield, The Journal

One of Tony Blair's closest allies has cast doubt on his long-term future as Prime Minister.

North Tyneside MP Stephen Byers warned Mr Blair that he had to be bolder in a third term of office.

The former Transport Secretary said the alternative was that he would be forgotten by history.

Mr Byers - a key Blairite in the Government until a series of gaffes forced him out - said New Labour had failed to alter the political environment in the way Margaret Thatcher had done so dramatically in the 1980s.

He said people would question Mr Blair's long-term future if the party's manifesto at the next election did not have a vision for "real change".

Fellow Labour MPs in the North last night called on Mr Blair to concentrate on making a real difference to people's lives if he wanted to earn a third term. Mr Byers said: "I've got no

doubt from conversations that I have had with him that he has got a huge appetite to continue as Prime Minister and leader of the Labour Party."

But he added: "I think the acid test will be whether or not we have a clearly Blairite manifesto for Labour in the run-up to the next General Election.

"If we don't have a bold, ambitious manifesto of real change, I think people will raise the question, `well perhaps Blair isn't going to be there to see it through'.

"So I think that's a challenge for the Labour Party, for the Prime Minister, to make sure that manifesto has his imprint over it."

Mr Byers has remained close to Mr Blair since being forced from office.

His comments follow an assertion by Health Secretary John Reid that the Sedgefield MP would serve a full third term "God and the electorate willing".

Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell also came to Mr Blair's aid yesterday, saying his leadership was "indispensable" to Labour.

Mr Byers, who has been used as a sounding board for a number of Blairite initiatives since returning to the backbenches, said: "Some people say there is a stark choice between safety first and a bold, ambitious manifesto.

"Some of it has to be safety first and steady as you go - the economy, for example, is a great success story."

But on issues such as the public services agenda, he said, Labour needed to "break out of the incremental approach" and set out a clear vision of big change.

If this was not achieved, Mr Blair risked being seen as Prime Minister of a government that had not changed the political landscape in the way that Clement Attlee or Margaret Thatcher both had.

Asked if Mr Blair had done this, Mr Byers replied: "I don't think he has and I think the third term will be the opportunity to make those big changes and to ensure that we embed a sort of social democratic settlement within the United Kingdom.

"I think there has got to be a sort of third stage in the third-term Labour Government where we really push very hard.

"We've laid good foundations," he said.

"But I think we need to do an awful lot more."

Last night Newcastle North Labour MP Doug Henderson said: "We have to be bold, but we have to do things that make life better for ordinary people in this country.

"I think we've done well on the economy and put the resources into health and education, but our foreign policy leaves a lot to be desired and we need to sharpen up on transport."

Durham North MP Kevan Jones said: "We need less background noise and more concentration on delivering the programme which we set out."