Blair to face a tough week as Labor conference kicks off

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, September 28, 2003

Blair to face a tough week as Labor conference kicks off

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is facing a tough week as his ruling Labor Party's annual conference is to kick off in Bournemouth, southwestern England, on Sunday.

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British Prime Minister Tony Blair is facing a tough week as his ruling Labor Party's annual conference is to kick off in Bournemouth, southwestern England, on Sunday.

Blair's 10th Labor conference as leader comes hard on the heels of the party's shock by-election defeat by the Liberal Democrats in the formerly safe Labor seat of Brent East in North London.

His close allies have acknowledged that the prime minister needs to overcome doubts and discontent among the party grassroots over his policies on Iraq, foundation hospitals and student tuition fees.

The main source of discontent, the Iraq war, will be the subject of a debate on Wednesday featuring the beleaguered Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

Foundation hospitals are unpopular with many Labor lawmakers who say allowing some successful hospitals to raise private finance will create a two-tier health service.

And the introduction of so-called "top-up" fees which will allow universities to increase the amount they charge students fortuition, is also set to come under fierce attack at Bournemouth.

However, Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell has already said the government will not bow to the demands of "elements within the Labor movement" by abandoning its policies.

"Foundation hospitals do flow from the values of our government,tuition fees do flow from the values of the Labor movement by opening up access to higher education and all the opportunities that flow from that," she told BBC Radio 4's Today program on Saturday.

Blair's trusted ally, Health Secretary John Reid, also attacked party traditionalists as "conservatives" stuck in the past.

Reid told the Daily Telegraph: "There are some very sincere people who ultimately are conservatives because they want to maintain the status quo."

Local media widely expected the coming Labor gathering would bethe most difficult conference that Blair has ever faced since he became Labor leader in 1994 and took power in 1997.

The Sunday Times poll suggests public support for Labor has dropped to the same level it was in 1987 when Margaret Thatcher was at her height. The poll put Labor at 30 percent with the Liberal Democrats, while the Conservatives are ahead on 33 percent.

A Mori poll for the Financial Times suggested Saturday that half the British public believe the time has come for the prime minister to give way to someone else. Strong support for the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, was also apparent.

And according to a survey by the Guardian newspaper, one in four Labor backbenchers think their leader should quit now.

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