Premiership of Tony Blair down as Prime Minister in a matter of weeks. He further encouraged Gordon Brown as his successor as Leader of the Labour Party. On 3 May, it was further clarified by Downing Street that the exact date of resignation would be announced on 10 May. The following election of a new leader of the Labour Party was expected to take 48 days. On 10 May 2007, Blair held a Cabinet meeting where he told his ministers about his resignation plans and later making a speech at the Trimdon Labour Club in his Sedgefield constituency before announcing at a press conference
Premiership of Tony Blair principle of separation of powers. In this context, Blair had four defeats in the Parliament, including an amendment that would have allowed the conditional detention of terrorism suspects. Political commentators have also pointed to the constant tussle between the Chancellor Gordon Brown and Tony Blair as evidence that the Prime Minister was not all too powerful. This, according to them, demonstrates that the Cabinet was still an effective arena for political dialogue. Gordon Brown served as Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom from the Labour Party's 1997 general election victory on 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007,