Britain's departing Blair tries to put his Labour Party on auto–pilot

0 Comments | AFP, January, 2007

LONDON (AFP) — Tony Blair urged his governing Labour Party to stick to his centrist economic and social agenda in what is set to be his 10th and final New Year's message as Britain's prime minister. With finance minister Gordon Brown expected to succeed Blair by September, the message was likely to be seen as a warning for him not to veer from the course set since Labour won its first of three election victories in 1997.

Blair urged the former leftist party to rely on its newfound centrist instincts of "ambition and compassion" to meet the challenges of the next decade, which includes general elections some time before 2010. "This is the most difficult time for any government," Blair said in a message released by his office while he holidays in the United States. "Nine years...