Britain's Blair Says He Is Resigning

British Prime Minister Tony Blair arrives back at 10 Downing Street after Prime Minister's Questions at the House of Common, London, Wednesday, May 9, 2007. A British civil servant was convicted Wednesday of leaking a classified memo about a meeting between Prime Minister Tony Blair and U.S. President George W. Bush. David Keogh, 50, a cypher expert, had admitted passing on the secret memo about April 2004 talks between the two leaders in which Bush purportedly referred to bombing the Arab television station Al-Jazeera.(AP Photo/Sang Tan) (Sang Tan - AP)

"That's not on message for today," Blair joked.

For his long-expected announcement, Blair returned to the district where he won election to Parliament in 1983, and where he announced in 1994 that he was a candidate for Labour Party leader.

Blair's announcement came days after he celebrated the 10th anniversary of Labour's landslide election victory of May 1, 1997.

Since then, he has been one of the most praised, and reviled, leaders in British history _ the man who transformed the Labour Party, helped end Northern Ireland's troubles but angered many of his supporters by committing Britain to a bloody, unpopular war in Iraq.

When he was elected at 43 in 1997, Blair was the youngest prime minister of the 20th century _ the first born after World War II and the only one to have played in a college rock band, Ugly Rumours. He transformed Labour from an old-style social-democratic party to centrist "New Labour" and led it to three consecutive election victories.

Under the stewardship of Blair and Brown, the British economy has thrived. London rivals New York as the world's pre-eminent financial center, GDP is up, unemployment is down and interest rates are low, though rising. However, Blair's promised health and education reforms remain incomplete, and soaring house prices and increasing personal debt threaten to widen the divide between haves and have-nots.

Nonetheless, his supporters say Blair will be remembered for helping the poor.

"It's a nostalgic day but we're here to celebrate of all of Tony Blair's achievements, he's done so much to help the people of this country, and so much to lift people out of poverty," said Maureen Lenehan, an official at the Trimdon Labour Club.

Blair announced his departure date two days after the formation of Northern Ireland's full power-sharing administration, a goal he spent much of his premiership striving to achieve.

But despite his accomplishments, Blair's legacy looks to be dominated by Iraq.

His decision to stand should-to-shoulder with President Bush by committing troops for the invasion divided his party and the country. Blair said he was content for history to judge him, but four years on and with almost 150 British troops dead in Iraq, the war is more unpopular than ever.

Bush lauded Blair and expressed confidence that Brown would support the war in Iraq.