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 a £4,000,000 deal, in exchange his personal diaries, with a publishing firm owned by Rupert Murdoch. On 5 September 2006, a letter signed by 17 Labour MPs called for Tony Blair to resign. On the same day, 49 other Labour MPs signed a statement supporting Blair's departure timetable. The next day "The Sun" reported that Blair would step down as Leader of the Labour Party on 31 May 2007, and as Prime Minister when a new leader is elected. That same day, seven of the MPs who signed the letter resigned as Parliamentary Private Secretaries (unpaid and unofficial posts assisting