British Prime Minister Tony Blair has gambled his career by deciding to hold a referendum on the proposed EU constitution, newspapers agreed yesterday.
The move, announced by Blair in parliament on Tuesday, was attacked by much of the press as a bid to gain political advantage domestically rather than being motivated by a commitment to democracy.
"Blair gambles his career on Europe verdict," said the Times on its front page.
The right-wing paper said Blair had made the "most complete U-turn of his premiership" and left "serious questions over whether he could survive a defeat" in a referendum, the date of which has not been revealed.
The Financial Times accused Blair of "grubby opportunism." It said he had been compelled to "cast aside his principled objections to a referendum for political expediency" in a move likely to help him in the next general election, expected in the first half of next year.
The right-wing Daily Express believed that Blair was doing the right thing but for the wrong reason.
"Mr Blair is not canvassing our opinion. He is simply robbing his critics of a stick with which to beat him," the paper said in an editorial.
The left-wing Daily Mirror said that Blair had "cleverly neutralized" what Britain's main opposition Conservatives hoped to make the major issue of the next general election, and so given his ruling Labour party a huge boost.
A referendum had long been sought by Britain's numerous eurosceptics, including the Conservatives, while Blair had come in for increasing criticism over his previous insistence that a plebiscite was not needed.
The Daily Mirror concluded that Blair "cannot survive losing this referendum -- too much is at stake."
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw rejected such talk in an interview on BBC television late on Tuesday.
"Of course he wouldn't," he said, when asked if Blair would step down if he lost.
"In referendums which have been held in other countries, Sweden and Denmark for example, or Ireland, when the referendum decision has gone against the head of government it has not led to resignations. Why should it?" Straw said.
"Blair stakes his future on Britain's place in EU" was the front page headline in the right-wing Daily Telegraph, which said Blair had "executed the biggest and most humiliating about-turn of his career."
Defeat in the ballot "would undermine the central thrust of Labour policy and call his future into question," the paper said, adding that while Blair had taken "a calculated risk," it was also "a demonstration of his political survival instinct."
"Frustrated on other fronts -- Iraq, immigration, public services -- and with [finance minister] Gordon Brown impatient to succeed him, Mr Blair has decided to change the subject: to Europe," the paper said in an editorial comment.
The left-wing Guardian said it was in Britain's interests to sign the draft constitution and Blair had made a "good start to a long campaign."
It added, however, that Blair had "issued his call to arms as a tactical ploy rather than as a clarion call."
The Sun, right-wing and fiercely eurosceptic, reported that 34,559 of its readers had rung in to voice their opposition to "handing more power to Brussels," while just 939 had said they were in favor of the constitution -- which EU leaders aim to approve in principle in June.
The tabloid, Britain's biggest selling daily, called for a referendum to be held as soon as possible.
The paper's political editor, Trevor Kavanagh, said Blair had "enraged allies in France and Germany by putting the whole EU edifice at risk by putting the constitution to a vote he cannot win."
The constitution must be ratified by all EU states to come into effect.
Reports have suggested that media baron Rupert Murdoch -- who owns the Sun and the Times -- has made it clear he could not support the re-election of a Labour government unless it offered a referendum.
The backing of the Sun was seen by many as crucial in helping Blair come to power in 1997.
A beauty queen who pulled out of the Miss South Africa competition when her nationality was questioned has said she wants to relocate to Nigeria, after coming second in the Miss Universe pageant while representing the West African country. Chidimma Adetshina, whose father is Nigerian, was crowned Miss Universe Africa and Oceania and was runner-up to Denmark’s Victoria Kjar Theilvig in Mexico on Saturday night. The 23-year-old law student withdrew from the Miss South Africa competition in August, saying that she needed to protect herself and her family after the government alleged that her mother had stolen the identity of a South
BELT-TIGHTENING: Chinese investments in Cambodia are projected to drop to US$35 million in 2026 from more than US$420 million in 2021 At a ceremony in August, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet knelt to receive blessings from saffron-robed monks as fireworks and balloons heralded the breaking of ground for a canal he hoped would transform his country’s economic fortunes. Addressing hundreds of people waving the Cambodian flag, Hun Manet said China would contribute 49 percent to the funding of the Funan Techo Canal that would link the Mekong River to the Gulf of Thailand and reduce Cambodia’s shipping reliance on Vietnam. Cambodia’s government estimates the strategic, if contentious, infrastructure project would cost US$1.7 billion, nearly 4 percent of the nation’s annual GDP. However, months later,
HOPEFUL FOR PEACE: Zelenskiy said that the war would ‘end sooner’ with Trump and that Ukraine must do all it can to ensure the fighting ends next year Russia’s state-owned gas company Gazprom early yesterday suspended gas deliveries via Ukraine, Vienna-based utility OMV said, in a development that signals a fast-approaching end of Moscow’s last gas flows to Europe. Russia’s oldest gas-export route to Europe, a pipeline dating back to Soviet days via Ukraine, is set to shut at the end of this year. Ukraine has said it would not extend the transit agreement with Russian state-owned Gazprom to deprive Russia of profits that Kyiv says help to finance the war against it. Moscow’s suspension of gas for Austria, the main receiver of gas via Ukraine, means Russia now only
‘HARD-HEADED’: Some people did not evacuate to protect their property or because they were skeptical of the warnings, a disaster agency official said Typhoon Man-yi yesterday slammed into the Philippines’ most populous island, with the national weather service warning of flooding, landslides and huge waves as the storm sweeps across the archipelago nation. Man-yi was still packing maximum sustained winds of 185kph after making its first landfall late on Saturday on lightly populated Catanduanes island. More than 1.2 million people fled their homes ahead of Man-yi as the weather forecaster warned of a “life-threatening” effect from the powerful storm, which follows an unusual streak of violent weather. Man-yi uprooted trees, brought down power lines and smashed flimsy houses to pieces after hitting Catanduanes in the typhoon-prone
RSS