Labour party plot to overthrow Blair rumoured

Tony Blair’s leadership of the Labour Party was called into question for the first time in eight years after details emerged today of a plot to publicly challenge him for the job.

A group of hardline MPs were said to be looking at ways to voice their disquiet over the prospect of military strikes against Iraq and private sector involvement in public services.

There is also unease among backbench MPs, and possibly some ministers, at what they see as Mr Blair’s increasingly presidential style of leadership, MPs said.

Some Labour hardliners were even believed to be discussing a ‘‘stalking horse’’ plot to challenge the Prime Minister as a way of making their disaffection clear, but others rejected the idea.

The ploy would follow the example of Tory MP Anthony Meyer, who challenged Margaret Thatcher in 1989. Although he lost by a large margin, it questioned for the first time Mrs Thatcher’s leadership and foreshadowed her downfall a year later.

However, under Labour Party rules, a leadership challenge is difficult and rebels would have to engineer a card vote at the annual conference, which is seen as unlikely.

Alan Simpson, Labour MP for Nottingham South, warned that public concern about British backing for military strikes against Iraq might damage Labour in the forthcoming local elections.

His warning came on the back of a poll for next week’s Time magazine which revealed the majority of Britons are against military action.

Left-wing MP Jeremy Corbyn said: ‘‘There is a great deal of disquiet about privatisation and the general thrust of the way public services are going.

‘‘There is disquiet in a different way about issues of foreign policy, varying between people like myself, who are strongly opposed to the deployment of troops to Afghanistan, and the threat of bombing Iraq, so there is a lot of disturbance, yes.

‘‘The feeling is there, also, of the presidential style of Tony Blair in that he acts as a president, calls presidential conferences on issues x, y and z and then clears off to do something else.

‘‘I suspect a lot of ministers feel this way too. If you have a Prime Minister dipping into your department regularly then you would feel that way.’’

Asked whether there was a ‘‘stalking horse’’ plot afoot, the MP for Islington North added: ‘‘It is a discussion that is going on. I am not aware of any name that has emerged yet but discussions have taken place.

‘‘Under Labour Party rules it is very difficult to mount a challenge. There isn’t an annual election so it is very hard to mount a challenge, but discussions are taking place.’’

Ann Cryer, another left-winger, said that while she was ‘‘totally opposed’’ to any military action in Iraq and had ‘‘grave concerns’’ about private financing of public services, it was the wrong time to launch a leadership challenge.

‘‘I don’t see any reason at the moment for a public challenge for the Prime Minister’s job,’’ the MP for Keighley said.

‘‘We have some disagreements, but in a second term it would be difficult to do that. We have got to argue with him, we have got to take him on and try to persuade him that we are right.’’

Mr Simpson said the stalking horse idea was ‘‘unrealistic’’ because of Labour Party rules.

He said however there was an ‘‘intellectual and political challenge’’ to New Labour’s Third Way among MPs, unions and activists.

It is not known exactly how many Labour MPs are involved in the plot, but 135 MPs the majority of them Labour have signed a Commons motion opposing any US-led military action against Iraq.

One MP with ‘‘no ambition and no enemies within the party’’ has volunteered to be a stalking horse but MPs were refusing to name him, the Guardian said.

Labour left-wingers Tam Dalyell and George Galloway, who were among those who signed the Iraq motion, have already voiced their discontent with Mr Blair.

Mr Galloway said he knew nothing about the challenge plot, adding he was ‘‘surprised’’ at the report.

Writing in the Spectator 10 days ago, however, the MP for Glasgow Kelvin said normally loyal backbenchers were calling for Cabinet reshuffles and even a leadership challenge.

In that article Mr Galloway made clear that he did not believe there was any genuine prospect of a challenge to Mr Blair, but said the discussions reflected serious discontent about the Government’s record.

Rules governing the procedure of a Labour leadership contest say that a ballot could arise if 20% of MPs supported a challenge leading to a contest within Labour’s electoral college of MPs, unions and activists.

If Mr Blair stood down, each candidate for the vacancy would need 12.5% support to run, but when Labour is in power, another rule says the rebels would have to engineer a majority in favour of a contest by way of a card vote at the annual conference, which is seen as unlikely.

The Labour Party refused to comment on the report.