{"page":"\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/resources-572d6a42.css\" /\u003e\n\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/lp_boclips_stylesheets-f4d0de30.css\" media=\"all\" /\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-title='Blair questioned after election loss, calls for his resignation' data-url='/boclips/videos/5c54c0acd8eafeecae14c85d' data-video-url='/boclips/videos/5c54c0acd8eafeecae14c85d' id='bo_player_modal'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='boclips-resource-page modal-dialog panel-container'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='react-notifications-root'\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-header'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-type'\u003e\n\u003ci aria-hidden='true' class='fai fa-regular fa-circle-play'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\nVideo\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch1 class='rp-title' id='video-title'\u003e\nBlair questioned after election loss, calls for his resignation\n\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-actions'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='mr-1'\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"btn btn-success\" data-posthog-event=\"Signup: LP Signup Activity\" data-posthog-location=\"body_link_boclips\" data-remote=\"true\" href=\"/subscription/new\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGet Free Access\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"\"\u003e for 10 Days\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-body'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-info'\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-label='Hide resource details' class='rp-hide-info' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u0026times;\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Expand resource details' class='rp-expand-info fai fa-solid fa-up-right-and-down-left-from-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Compress resource details' class='rp-compress-info fai fa-solid fa-down-left-and-up-right-to-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-rating'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='resource-pool'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-label'\u003ePublisher:\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-name'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='text'\u003e\u003ca data-publisher-id=\"30356011\" href=\"/search?publisher_ids%5B%5D=30356011\"\u003eCurated Video\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-description'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='short-description'\u003e1. British Prime Minister Tony Blair walking into news conference2. SOUNDBITE: (English) Tony Blair, British Prime Minister\"As you all know, for the first time for a sitting Prime Minister, prior to the last election I answered the...\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='full-description hide'\u003e1. British Prime Minister Tony Blair walking into news conference\u003cbr/\u003e2. SOUNDBITE: (English) Tony Blair, British Prime Minister\u003cbr/\u003e\"As you all know, for the first time for a sitting Prime Minister, prior to the last election I answered the inevitable question as to whether that election - my third election - would be my last, and I said that it would be. I did so precisely to show that I had no intention in the words of one of my predecessors of \"going on and on and on\". I then said straight after the election that I would ensure a stable and orderly transition to a new leader, but I would remind you we are barely one year from that general election when I was returned to office as prime minister. To state a timetable now would simply paralyze the proper working of government, put at risk the necessary changes we are making for Britain and therefore damage the country. It wouldn''t end this distraction but take it to a new level.\"\u003cbr/\u003e3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Tony Blair, British Prime Minister\u003cbr/\u003e\"The interests of the country is that the government they returned to office for a third time, with myself as prime minister, get on with the business of governing. There are real issues out there that concern people - law and order, pensions, the national health service, schools, the economy, their living standards - and they will not thank me or my party if instead on concentrating on those issues we engage in endless speculation about when during this parliament I will stand down.\"\u003cbr/\u003e4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Tony Blair, British Prime Minister:\u003cbr/\u003e\"Well I don''t know anyone who as even talked or contemplated the prospect of a nuclear strike against Iran, and that would be absolutely absurd.\"\u003cbr/\u003e5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Tony Blair, British Prime Minister:\u003cbr/\u003e\"Of course he is, and when have I ever said anything different. So that''s why I suggest that everyone calms down and lets us get on with the business of governing.\"\u003cbr/\u003e6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Tony Blair, British Prime Minister:\u003cbr/\u003e\"Those people who think, who maybe fear or hope that Gordon would take the Labour party in a different direction from New Labour are - on the basis of discussions I have had with Gordon - are completely mistaken. I have no doubt at all he will be absolutely New Labour to his fingertips and also incidentally a very strong supporter of the trans-Atlantic relationship.\"\u003cbr/\u003e7. Blair walking away from press conference\u003cbr/\u003ePrime Minister Tony Blair, under pressure within his party to set a date for retirement after a poor showing in local elections, said Monday he has no intention \"to go on and on and on\" but again refused to set a timetable for standing down.\u003cbr/\u003eBlair said he still intended, as he said before the 2005 national election, to stand aside before the next national vote.\u003cbr/\u003e\"To state a timetable would simply paralyze the proper working of government, put at risk the necessary changes we are making for Britain and therefore damage the country. It wouldn''t end this distraction but merely take it to a new level,\" Blair said at his monthly news conference.\u003cbr/\u003eLater in the day he was to face what may be a tense meeting with Labour members of the House of Commons, where some were likely to press again for a retirement timetable.\u003cbr/\u003eSenior allies of the prime minister urged party members to be calm following Labour''s third-place showing in English local elections last week and a wide-ranging shake-up of Blair''s Cabinet.\u003cbr/\u003eSome Labour lawmakers were circulating a draft letter calling for Blair to set a date for stepping down, a legislator from the party told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.\u003cbr/\u003eBlair said he believed some of his critics were simply concerned to insure that there was a smooth transition to a new leader, widely expected to be Treasury chief Gordon Brown.\u003cbr/\u003eBlair said Monday that Brown remains his choice to succeed him as prime minister.\u003cbr/\u003eBlair also said that any consideration of a nuclear attack against Iran would be \"absolutely absurd,\" and said the issue had no bearing on his decision to demote his foreign secretary.\u003cbr/\u003eThe prime minister''s reference to \"going on and on and on\" recalled the words of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who was eventually forced out of office after 11 years.\u003cbr/\u003eThe Labour Party ran third in the English local elections, roughly as bad as it did in local elections in 1994, a year before Blair led the party to its third straight national victory.\u003cbr/\u003eThe elections followed a dismal period for the government, which has admitted it allowed more than 1,000 foreign criminals to be released at the end of their sentences without considering deportation. \u003cbr/\u003eThe government was also embarrassed by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott''s admission of an extramarital affair with a secretary in his department.\u003cbr/\u003eOn Friday, Blair fired Charles Clarke as head of the Home Office, which was responsible for the prisoners; he demoted Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, and stripped Prescott of most of his departmental responsibilities - including local planning issues - in the government.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='action-container flex justify-between'\u003e\n\u003cbutton aria-expanded='false' aria-label='Read more description' class='rp-full-description' type='button'\u003e\n\u003ci class='fai fa-solid fa-align-left'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cspan id='read_more'\u003eRead More\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/button\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-report'\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-labelledby='resource-details-heading' class='rp-info-section'\u003e\n\u003ch2 class='title' id='resource-details-heading'\u003eResource Details\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-resource-details clearfix'\u003e\n\u003cdiv 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