Blair to stand down on June 27

It looks like the First Post’s Mole was wrong.. but only by one day. According to the reports, Tony Blair has told the Cabinet of his resignation timetable today, and is publicly confirming it in his Sedgefield constituency. Expect the various candidates for the post of deputy leader of the Labour Party to rush the microphones.. Update That campaign can also begin.. officially. Adds The Guardian’s Jonathan Freedland makes a good point

Blair’s going to drag this goodbye out till late summer, like an old crooner milking the crowd for another dozen encores. And when he eventually does go, will we have to go through this whole performance all over again? Will the BBC helicopter be in the sky over Sedgefield once more?

And The Belfast Telegraph has the farewell performance the text of the speech.. audio available here[mp3 file] Or Via RTÉ, the BBC’s Dead Ringers team suggest an alternative send-off..

We are reader supported. Donate to keep Slugger lit!

For over 20 years, Slugger has been an independent place for debate and new ideas. We have published over 40,000 posts and over one and a half million comments on the site. Each month we have over 70,000 readers. All this we have accomplished with only volunteers we have never had any paid staff.

Slugger does not receive any funding, and we respect our readers, so we will never run intrusive ads or sponsored posts. Instead, we are reader-supported. Help us keep Slugger independent by becoming a friend of Slugger. While we run a tight ship and no one gets paid to write, we need money to help us cover our costs.

If you like what we do, we are asking you to consider giving a monthly donation of any amount, or you can give a one-off donation. Any amount is appreciated.