Blair to seek re-election
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair says he wants to run for re-election and has no plans to give up his job.
In an interview with the London-based Daily Mirror published on Saturday, Blair said he enjoyed being the prime minister and was in no hurry to give it up.
“Yes, absolutely,” Blair said on being asked whether he would carry on. “Am I up for doing it? Yes I am.”
“I do this job because I believe in what I am doing,” the prime minister said. “And I have to say I enjoy doing the job.”
Defiant PM
Blair’s comments came at a time when his popularity is at an all time low. Many view him as a stooge of US President George Bush, who recklessly led United Kingdom into an unjust war in Iraq.
Asked when he thought Iraq would move away from crisis, Blair said: “I really think we will see that and sooner than people might think.”
“There is no difference between us and the Americans on how things will operate once the handover of power to the Iraqis takes place on 30 June,” he said.
“The reason I work with America is to deal with what I genuinely and honestly believe to be a modern security threat like nothing we have ever known,” Blair added.
According to a YouGov poll on Saturday for the Daily Telegraph, 29% of the British voters would like Finance Minister Gordon Brown to become the prime minister, while only 25% wanted Blair to stay in the job.