WhenWillBlairGo.com?

"Has sacked Home Secretary Charles Clarke delivered the death blow to Tony Blair?"

That's the headline in this morning's Daily Mail after Charles Clarke said the Prime Minister had "lost his sense of purpose and direction".  The sacked Home Secretary called for the besieged Prime Minister to set a date for his departure and for that "orderly handover" to his successor.

With speculation about the Prime Minister's future at fever pitch, today has turned out to be a very good day for ConservativeHome to launch WhenWillBlairGo.com.

As revealed in this morning's Spy diary column, ConservativeHome has launched a £500 text voting competition to predict the exact time and date of Blair's departure.  Take part by clicking here and watch the minutes countdown to the time we can all expect Tony to make his tearful exit from Downing Street.

Comments

[Oberon HoustonOberon Houston]

Interested to understand the motives for his timing and comments.

Is it an attempt to force the leadership issue before their conference? This seriously undermines Blair and despite his serious ability to handle serious situations, on such a personal one he may struggle to survive much longer.

[Serf]

Not a moment too soon.

Gordon Brown

[Sam Langfield]

I disagree with the Daily Mail's interpretation.

As I argue here, Clarke has made these comments now, in the midst of the World Cup, in order to minimise the damage done to Tony Blair.

[Patsy Sergeant]

Unless he is pushed G.. ......., Tony Blair will hold on until his hands petrify, until the day after (in time), Mrs. Thatcher became Leader of the Tory party. Is it October 2008???

[Wat Tyler]

I listened to the various Clark interviews and wondered what all the hype was about. Yet another sacked overweight bearded Marxist has joined the Dobson sacked overweight bearded Marxist ex-ministers club. SFW?

Surely even the Westminster media are sick of all the will he won't he by now. On the World at One Nick Robinson was almost apologising for mentioning it yet again.

Sure Blair's busted, but everyone sort of knows that already. We've got them for another four grisly years whatever happens.

[roy]

The whole Clarke attack feels like a Gordon Brown-camp classic setpiece (to use the footballing analogy)......weaken your opposition whenever the chance presents itself.

[sib]

He passes Margaret Thatcher sometime around 22 November 2008. So that's two Labour Conferences to survive. All these plots, counterplots and disloyalty. Our duty is to keep up the pressure and wind them up. Every day of rumblings more votes move away from labour. With Ming the Muddler running or should that be stumbling the libs we should be getting the votes. Blair can hang on as long as he wants since it would be difficult for them to launch a challenge. Anyway he has to hang on until Dr Reid is ready to take over, that means sorting out the Home Office, so it'll be sometime in 2025.

[nick]

Sir Stelios Knighthood Cover Up
Stelios was granted a knighthood but no journalist has stepped up to the plate to investigate whether it was appropriate to grant a knighthood to a Monaco resident tax exile who is extremely controversial.
In April 1991 when Stelios Haji-Ioannou, was chief executive of his father's business Troodos Shipping, their tanker Haven blew up off Genoa, killing five crew and disgorging up to 50,000 tonnes of crude oil into the sea - arguably the Mediterranean's worst-ever ecological disaster.
The Haven was an elderly tanker, formerly the Amoco Haven, sister ship of the ill-starred Amoco Cadiz that foundered in 1978. Stelios was accused of poor maintenance and charged in Italy with manslaughter and intimidating and attempting to bribe witnesses. He faced a lengthy jail sentence and liability for hundreds of millions of pounds compensation. Stelios blamed an error by one of the surviving crew. He was acquitted but the case has dragged on ever since with subsequent appeals and demands for compensation thrown out. Environmentalists also must be appalled that a person who was personally responsible for an increase in pollution due to his extensive use of elderly ineffiecient aircraft in the early days of easyJet prior to its merger with GO. Is rewarded with a knighthood.
Tax treatment of aviation fuel as opposed to heating oil and petrol.
Inland Revenue investigators must also see the reward as a slap in the face for hard working UK tax payers. During the last 25 years Stelios has polluted the world including Cypriot beeches. He has been accused of bribery and intimidation. He has avoided tax. He has been taken to court hundreds of times. And yet he is knighted.

When is a journalist going to make a name for themselves by investigating Stelios thoroughly and expose him? Stelios Haji-Ioannou's success? what success is that? every single business he has started has failed with huge losses of ?100s of millions. The only reason easyJet went ok was firstly because his shipping tycoon dad financed the operation and his brother and sister were co-owners. Please tell the world how successful easyInternet, easyCinema, easyCarRentals, easyWatches, easyMobile, easyMusic, easyBus, easyHotel, have been. I can inform you that they have lost a cummulative £300,000,000.00 since inception. The only reason he got his knighthood because of his donation to the Labour Party it had nothing to do with the queen. As Stelios is a Monaco resident and a tax exile he is only entitled to an honarary knighthood anyway and as soon as the newspapers catch on it will be downgraded. Or if he wants to keep it he can register for UK tax and pay millions to the Inland Revenue!
I am a Greek Cypriot and do not consider Stelios one of us. He does not send one penny of his money to Cyprus and left Cyprus when his family was involved in scandal. He lives in Monaco where he gambles in the casino and sleeps with rent boys.
Hella pushti malaga.