Reaktion auf Blairs Rücktrittsankündigung[en] 

Blair was given a tumultuous ovation from a 200-strong crowd at Trimdon Labour Club in his constituency of Sedgefield, Co Durham, in the UK.

He announced that he would hand in his resignation to the Queen on 27 June, clearing the way for Gordon Brown.

Elected to power on 1 May 1997, amid public jubilation in the UK, Blair's legacy will be his revolution of UK centre-left politics, and the succesful completion of the Northern Ireland peace process. However, history is likely to be less kind to his decision to closely ally with the US' President George W. Bush's decision to invade Iraq, which brought huge protest from citizens in the UK and across the EU.  

A Europhile, Blair was strident in his assessment of the Union during the last UK EU Presidency, from January to June 2005. At that time, he said: "Only by change will Europe recover its strength, its relevance, its idealism and therefore public support." Commission President José Manuel Barroso agreed that "consensus was vital to avoid paralysis". 

Blair intends to use his last seven weeks to promote public-service reforms, new counter-terrorism measures and tougher laws to seize the assets of criminals.

With Left-wingers arguing that Blair's departure should be an opportunity to shift direction back to the unions and traditional left, senior Blairites stepped in to insist that New Labour must stay in the centre ground.

The prime minister is expected to spend another two years as a back bench MP under Gordon Brown, his certain successor, allies predicted on 10 May.

Chancellor Gordon Brown had a campaign team up and running at Westminster on 10 May, led by Commons leader Jack Straw, and was expected to announce his candidature on 11 May 2007. With around 200 MPs signing Mr Brown's nomination papers and polls showing him the clear choice of party members and unions, there was no doubt he would be crowned at a conference on 30 June.

The only declared rivals, left-wingers Michael Meacher and John McDonnell, looked uncertain of getting the 45 nominations needed to stand. Six rival candidates for deputy leader are expected to launch their campaigns.

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, standing in the same room in Trimdon Labour Club where he launched his campaign to be Labour leader in 1994, said of his ten years in power: "I think that's long enough for me and more especially for the country. Sometimes the only way you can conquer the pull of power is to set it down."

European Commission President José Manuel Barroso said: "Tony Blair has taken Britain from the fringes to the mainstream of the European Union. He has done this by engagement, not by vetoes. He has brought to Europe energy, engagement and ideas and leaves an impressive legacy including his commitment to enlargement, energy policy, his promotion of action against climate change, and for fighting poverty in Africa. Above all, he has shared in our determination to create an open, reforming and strong Europe. I greatly value our friendship and I wish him success for the future."

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said: "Britain has been under Tony Blair's leadership one of Denmark's closest international partners ... working together in the EU or in international operations in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan."

Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany said of Blair: "He greatly contributed to the transformation of Britain, that Britain today is again competitive, a country with a significant influence, and at the same time he left an indelible mark on the British Left."

Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said that with Blair's departure "a prominent leader disappears from the European and world stage. During tense moments, Blair was the binding force. Blair did not shrink from rowing against the current if he thought it was necessary."

Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said: "Tony Blair leaves office with an honored place in our history assured. From his first days as prime minister he devoted unprecedented time and attention to bringing the appalling conflict in Northern Ireland to an end."

MEP Andrew Duff, leader of the Liberal Democrat European Parliamentary Party, said: "Tony Blair's departure from the European scene, like that of Jacques Chirac, will be met with great relief. He has failed to live up to his early promise on Europe. He was undermined by Gordon Brown on the euro. He was outmanoeuvred by Germany and France on reform of the CAP. The invasion of Iraq did immeasurable harm to European unity in foreign and security policy. Blair's apparent commitment to building the European pillar of NATO has not been followed through. Worst of all, Tony Blair and his ministers have sought to blunt Europe's Constitutional development into a mature transnational parliamentary democracy. They have resisted the strengthening of the EU's own fundamental rights regime. They are now seeking to renege on commitments made in the treaty Blair signed in October 2004...The tragedy is that Blair has wanted to be a good European, but has never known how to be one."

Mayor of London Ken Livingstone: "I think that in the same way that perhaps one of the biggest long-term successes is bringing peace to Ireland, the most catastrophic error is the war in Iraq. It has, in a sense, created a whole new generation of terrorists."

Tony Benn, veteran UK Labour politician, was withering in his assessment: "The people who have done best in Britain in the last 10 years are the rich ... I think it is not surprising that Mrs. Thatcher, when asked her greatest achievement, said New Labour."