London, Aug 02: Tony Blair today created history by emerging as the longest serving Labour Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. 50-year-old Blair, on holiday in Barbados, surpassed Clement Attlee's record of six years and 92 days in power.

However, there are no celebrations planned for his milestone as the ruling Labour has ordered ministers and staff to play down the event believing that with the inquiry into the death of the weapons expert Dr David Kelly just getting underway, it is the wrong time for celebration.
Peter Hain, leader of the House of Commons today issued a stark warning to would-be Labour plotters who think that a new leader might boost the party's fortunes. No one else approaches Blair's stature, Hain claimed.
Writing in the ‘Times’, daily, to mark Blair's passing of Clement Attlee's record, Hain said that the milestone finds the government in its worst patch since winning power.

A handful of MPs led by Clare Short, former international development secretary, have called for Blair to step down in the wake of the controversy over the failure to prove that Iraq had Weapons of Mass Destruction.

In a frank assessment of Labour's standing, Hain said that the row over war with Iraq and the tragic death of the weapons expert Kelly, coming on top of growing public cynicism with spin, have led to a loss of trust in the government. In addition, serious administrative errors, including the botched re-launch of tax credits in April and the schools fund crisis, risk undermining the "bigger picture", that low-paid families are better off and education is improving.

Bureau Report