TONY BLAIR left belatedly for his Caribbean holiday yesterday, voicing hope that the United Nations will approve a resolution on Lebanon today but preparing to spend much of his time off on the telephone.

Mr Blair set off to join his family in Barbados saying that he was still very much in charge.

He had intended to leave last Friday but, unlike many other world leaders — Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, President Chirac of France and President Bush — Mr Blair, decided to delay after facing Cabinet and backbench dissent over his handling of the Middle East.

Mr Blair will be able to continue his telephone diplomacy from Barbados and will be closely following events in the UN as it considers the resolution calling for a cessation of hostilities and another that will set out the mandate for the multinational force.

With his fellow leaders scattered across several timezones, Mr Blair will be making calls early in the morning or late at night. Barring new crises, however, his officials are unlikely to disturb him in the middle of the night. The Prime Minister, now five hours adrift of Downing Street, has an office and secretarial staff with him. Like his fellow leaders he has a secure communications centre from which to make calls.

His key staff are either at No 10 or on holiday but all are on standby. Mr Blair often speaks to Emyr Jones-Parry, the British Ambassador to the United Nations. In recent days he has had regular conversations with M Chirac, Frau Merkel, President Putin of Russia, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the Spanish Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, Romano Prodi, the Italian Prime Minister, and on Monday he spoke to Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority.

Mr Blair has handed over control of domestic affairs to John Prescott but he emphasised that on international matters, particularly Lebanon, he would be in charge throughout his holiday, which is likely to end at the August Bank Holiday weekend.

Asked whether Mr Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, would be handle the negotiations, Mr Blair replied: “I have always been in charge of this. I do that by telephone wherever I am. One of the facts of this job is that, whether you are in this country or not, you go on being in touch with other leaders.” He added: “I’ve put off going away for a couple of days because it was necessary to get everybody in the international community together and get a text [of the resolution] and we’ve done it now.”

Mr Blair dismissed suggestions that he had undermined his position in the Labour Party and within his Cabinet with his handling of the Middle East crisis. He told ITN: “I think in the end if you do the right thing and try to explain to people why it’s important in a situation like this to get a cessation of hostilities on both sides, I think people can see that it’s a complicated situation.”

He added: “I will keep in touch with this the whole time . . . That’s just part of the job. When something like this occurs you’ve got to deal with it.”

Reports last night suggested that up to a hundred MPs, mostly Labour, would demand an immediate recall of Parliament to debate Middle East strategy. They are expected to write to Jack Straw, the Leader of the House of Commons, in the next 48 hours. A recall is unlikely as such a decision would require government support.

How the leaders keep in touch

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