 Close allies of Prime Minister Tony Blair dismissed talk on Sunday that he would resign early into his third term, despite a post-election chorus of calls for him to do so. Three days after the Labour Party scored its first ever-electoral hat trick, but with a much-reduced majority in parliament, speculation was rife that Blair might go sooner rather than later. Several Labour MPs went on the record to say they would prefer to see him make way for his Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, his virtually anointed successor, who enjoys a higher degree of popularity and respect. "The idea that we're going to go for several years with a prime minister who's said he's going to resign at some point is really not acceptable," said left-wing Labour backbencher Jeremy Corbyn. But close allies of Blair predicted that he will make good on the pledge he made last September that "if I am elected, I would serve a full third term" - a maximum five years - and then no more. |