LABOUR MPs are to give Tony Blair a deadline of less than three months to finalise plans for his departure from Downing Street.

They are ready to publish a letter — seen by The Sunday Times — signed by at least 50 backbenchers and former ministers. They urge Labour’s ruling body to step in if the prime minister refuses to reveal a timetable by the end of July for when he will step aside.

Officials at No 10 are increasingly anxious about the pressure from within the party for Blair to end speculation about his plans.

Last night more MPs called on the prime minister to publish a timetable after the party’s drubbing in Thursday’s local elections and Blair’s reshuffle brought tensions to the boil.

The shake-up triggered bitter recriminations from ministers who lost out, including Jane Kennedy, a loyalist MP who revealed yesterday she resigned as health minister after a furious row over Blair’s National Health Service reforms. She said the prime minister had ridden roughshod over ministers and the brutality of the reshuffle was a “symptom of a deeper malaise” in government.

Yesterday Downing Street risked further inflaming Blair’s critics by insisting he would not bow to demands to say when he was leaving and that he stood by his decision to serve a full third term. Blair’s strongest allies were dispatched to stamp on suggestions that he should leave office earlier than planned.

Stephen Byers, the former cabinet minister, said: “Tony has got a desire for a few more years to achieve what he wants to achieve. He is not going to walk away and the danger is that we cannot afford to have what happened with the Tories and Margaret Thatcher — that is, a forcible removal and a very divided party coming out of it.”

However, critics said Blair’s refusal to compromise suggested he was living in a “parallel universe”. One ministerial aide said that No 10 was “running the party like a religious cult”.

Blair is under fire as well for his demotion of Jack Straw, which the former foreign secretary’s allies saw as punishment for his growing allegiance to Gordon Brown and dismissal of military action against Iran.

Blair also enraged Geoff Hoon, whom he demoted to Europe minister, playing second fiddle to Margaret Beckett, the new foreign secretary. The former Commons leader told friends that he seriously considered quitting rather than accept the subordinate role after he believed that Blair had promised him equal cabinet status.

Friends of Charles Clarke, who was sacked as home secretary after turning down two lesser cabinet jobs, said he felt betrayed by Blair’s failure to let him sort out the foreign criminals scandal.

Today Brown will push his agenda for post-election “renewal” in two set-piece television interviews. On The Sunday Programme on GMTV he uses the word “renewal” 19 times amid reports that he is privately keen on Blair setting out plans for a hand-over.

Backbench critics of Blair hope to force the issue by threatening to publish their letter within days if the prime minister continues to dig his heels
in and does not flesh out his statement of 19 months ago that he would quit at some stage during this parliament. A draft copy calls on Labour’s national executive committee to intervene. It has been composed by moderate MPs as well as the hard core of backbenchers who want Brown to take over as soon as possible.

It states: “A prerequisite of an orderly and democratic change is a clear timetable and transparent procedures. Unfortunately both are still absent from the process instigated by the prime minister 19 months ago.

“We therefore ask the NEC, in consultation with the prime minister, to set out no later than the end of the current parliamentary session a clear timetable and procedure for the election of a new party leader.”

Kennedy said she quit her job after a row over NHS reforms and cronyism. “I could not serve as a minister accountable to the public and MPs if my opinions were totally ignored,” she said. Speaking of the reshuffle, she said:

“The fact that it is not being received entirely warmly, even by Blairites like myself, shows it is not going to fix what is wrong. It is a symptom of a deeper malaise.”

Blair is expected to face his critics tomorrow at a meeting of the parliamentary party, although aides doubted whether he would attend.

Concerns were also expressed by the trade unions. Tony Woodley, general secretary of the Transport and General Workers’ union, said: “We are not happy with this reshuffle. Blair needs to sort out a timetable for the succession.”

In a survey for The Sunday Times, 28 of 70 MPs contacted backed calls for Blair to make a statement. Many expressed their disapproval of his treatment of Clarke.

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