Half of all British voters want Blair out by 2007: poll

LONDON, Saturday, AFP, Half of all British voters want Prime Minister Tony Blair to quit before 2007, with nearly two fifths feeling he should go immediately, according to a poll published Saturday. Some 38 percent of all voters want him to step down now, while 12 percent want him gone by the end of the year, the survey in The Guardian newspaper showed.

A further 12 percent want him to quit before the May 2007 Scottish and Welsh elections, and six percent want him to go soon after.

However, 21 percent want him to break his word on leaving within 12 months and instead stay to fight the next general election, due in May 2010 at the very latest.

Blair has endured a torrid week with eight junior members of the government resigning in an attempt to force him into naming a departure date.

That sparked a bitter round of infighting and jockeying for position, with the hot favourite to succeed Blair, his finance minister Gordon Brown, sustaining a battering from Blair loyalists desperate to stop him from inheriting the leadership.