U.K.’s Blair bows out, Brown to take power
06/27/2007
Chancellor of the Exchequer to become prime minister WednesdayLONDON - Tony Blair’s decade in power ends Wednesday after facing questions in Parliament and having a last lunch at No. 10 Downing St. before Gordon Brown takes command of government.
For Brown, who for 10 years has controlled the national finances as chancellor of the exchequer, it is the culmination of a long — and reportedly frustrating — quest for the top job.
Brown’s devotion to fiscal “prudence” and his commitment to increasing aid to Africa are well known, but questions remain to be answered about what he intends to do in Iraq and more generally about his foreign policy goals.
British troop numbers in Iraq have rapidly fallen through 2007 and soldiers are now stationed on the fringes of the southern city of Basra.
Blair has left his successor an option to call back more of the remaining 5,500 personnel by 2008 — an opportunity likely to be grasped by a leader with a national election to call before June 2010.
“His hands, whilst not quite clean, are certainly not sullied,” said Alasdair Murray the director of CentreForum, a liberal think-tank. Brown can “portray it as Blair’s war and differentiate himself.”
Brown may sanction a future inquiry on Iraq, similar to the U.S. Study Group, British media have reported. Britain has to “admit where we make mistakes,” Brown told a recent rally, referring to the war.
In Europe, bridges have been built with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and new French President Nicholas Sarkozy, but tensions are likely to emerge.
“Blair always had an eye on building up that currency called influence,” said Neil O’Brien director of the London based Open Europe think tank. “Brown is likely to be more ready to put his foot down and say no.”
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