Tony Blair returned to where his political career first began today to announce his immediate resignation as Labour leader and mount a passionate, personal defence of his record during a decade in Downing Street.
In an emotional speech to activists at the Trimdon Labour Club in his Sedgefield constituency - where he launched his own Labour leadership campaign 13 years ago and celebrated his three general election victories - Mr Blair said that he would formally tender his resignation as Prime Minister to the Queen on June 27.
That timetable sets in motion a six-week contest for the Labour leadership - although few believe that it will be anything other than a coronation for Gordon Brown, Mr Blair's long-time partner in the 'new Labour project' and his Chancellor since 1997.
Mr Blair is expected to endorse Mr Brown tomorrow as he sets of a seven-week farewell tour. Today, in front of his own family and a crowd of adoring supporters, he concentrated on his own record, claiming to have changed the face of modern Britain.
Whereas ten years ago, Britain had been a "strangely old-fashioned country", it was now one that was "comfortable in the 21st century, at home in its own skin". "Britain is not a follower today. It is a leader," he said.
But, while admitting that other aspects of his premiership - such as the decision to join the American-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 - remained "bitterly controversial", Mr Blair said: "Hand on heart, I did what I thought was right."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/the_blair_years/article1771045.ece
