LONDON, May 4 (UPI) -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair will reject calls to name his departure date following Thursday's local elections, it has been reported.
As voters across England headed to the polls, analysts were predicting humiliating losses for the ruling Labor Party, now expected to finish third in the share of the vote behind the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.
The government is reeling in the wake of a series of damaging scandals, most recently the admission of Home Secretary Charles Clarke that over 1000 foreign prisoners eligible for deportation had been accidentally set free, and revelations of an affair between Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and his diary secretary.
Senior Labor figures quoted in the Independent newspaper warned that a poor result would prompt a deluge of calls for Blair to step down, and exacerbate tensions between the prime minister and his likely successor, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown.
One supporter of the chancellor said: "There are demands by ministers right across the board, and by backbench Labor MPs (members of Parliament) for a timetable."
A source from the left-wing of the party added: "We are heading for a meltdown and a timetable is the minimum. This isn't about Clarke or Prescott. It's about Blair."
A senior cabinet minister said: "The Prescott sex scandal is pretty marginal. What is doing us damage is the impression of incompetence."
But allies of Blair said Wednesday night that he would be "mad" to disclose his departure date since that would leave him as a lame-duck leader. "He is firmly of the view that he will not reopen this debate," one aide said. "It would achieve nothing -- except to create another load of problems."
Sunshine across the country boosted the expected turnout, with projections now estimating 40 percent voter participation, up from 30 percent in the 2004 local elections.
