Blair puts off elections by a month

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, APRIL 1. Weeks of uncertainty over the timing of the British general election ended today as the Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair, defying his Cabinet colleagues, decided to put it off by a month to give himself more time to cope with the foot-and- mouth crisis and, more importantly, to head of the charge that he is insensitive to public opinion.

The election, which was widely expected on May 3, would now be held on June 7 and a formal announcement is expected on Monday when Mr. Blair returns from his weekend retreat at Chequers.

The Prime Minister's decision is believed to have annoyed his Cabinet colleagues and party MPs, most of whom were opposed to a delay. It caught the Culture Secretary, Mr. Chris Smith, on the hop as he went on Radio Morning strongly opposing a postponement unaware that a decision had already been taken. ``An embarrassed (Mr) Smith later conferred with Mr. Blair's team and then insisted he was opposed to any `substantial delay'', The Sunday Times said.

Almost the entire Cabinet, including heavyweights such as the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. John Prescott, the Chancellor, Mr. Gordon Brown, the Foreign Secretary, Mr. Robin Cook, and the Home Secretary, Mr. Jack Straw, favoured an early election on the plea that a delay would send out a wrong message overseas and that it would be seized by the Tories to claim victory for their campaign against a May election.

They also feared that since the foot-and-mouth was not likely to be under control in a few weeks, the government could come under pressure to delay the election further. There were already demands today that it should be put off until autumn.

A senior Tory leader, Mr. Michael Portillo, accused Mr. Blair of ``dithering'' and said this was no time to think of elections.

As newspapers widely reported the rift in the Cabinet and the Labour Party, senior figures were quick to close ranks. Mr. Robin Cook denied that there was split, and the chairman of Labour Parliamentary Party, Mr. Clive Soley, said though he still favoured an early election, he found no fault with the decision. Last week, Mr. Soley had taken an in-house party poll and reported to Mr. Blair that over 70 per cent Labour MPs favoured May 3.

A spokesman for the powerful Labour trade union maintained that a delay was bad news for tourism as it would reinforce the impression abroad that Britain was closed to business.

Mr. Blair's decision is believed to have been influenced by a new opinion poll which showed that two-thirds of the people favoured a delay, but even before the poll he had begun to have second thoughts about a May poll. After his visit to some of the foot- and-mouth afflicted areas, he sensed the public mood that early election would expose his government to the charge of putting the party above the country.

The Prime Minister's spokesman, Mr. Alistair Campbell, stressed that the Prime Minister would do what was ``right for the country as a whole.''

``The ministers were told that Mr. Blair wanted a month's delay to preserve his image as `one-nation' Prime Minister sensitive to rural concerns'', one newspaper said.

The non-Tory media, which had put its money on an early election, was clearly disappointed with The Independent declaring that ``on balance he has made the wrong choice.''

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