Britons Feeling 'Tired of Tony'

LONDON -- Verra Budimlija was once a classic fan of Prime Minister Tony Blair -- she's 40, a well-educated advertising executive, the kind of voter who propelled Blair and the Labor Party to power in 1997.

Now, nine years and two reelections later, Budimlija is suffering from "Tired of Tony," a malady afflicting even once-fanatical supporters as it spreads across Britain like a blanket of fog.

"He has been around too long," Budimlija said. "It seems to me that he has lost touch with the mood of the country, with what people think. He looks tired, worn out, like he has been in the job too long."

"I want to like him. I just can't anymore," said Hannah Lloyd, 35, a lawyer and mother of three, who said she was dazzled by Blair when he rode into office with Britain's biggest margin of victory in a century. Now, she said, sipping coffee in an Islington cafe, the televised face she once found exciting seems "rather smug."

Now his approval ratings have fallen to just over 30 percent. Nearly half of people polled by the London newspaper the Times this month wanted Blair to resign now or by the end of the year. Fifty-seven percent agreed that "Blair had run out of steam and is unlikely to achieve anything else as prime minister" quite similar to President Bush.

Even in the latest Polls, Blair continues to mimmick George W. Bush...

(reference in a recent show to questioning a PM's credibility, by linking fatigue and incompetence?)

even Tony is smarter not to do a replay with the war prez...

I've never trusted the guy.

But...

We don't vote for Blair directly, only the Sedgefield constituency voters do that, we vote for the party. We basically had the choice at the last election to vote for Labour, and Blair, who have done OK for the last 9 years in office or we could vote for the Tories, a group of corrupt, racist, liars who sold this country to the highest bidder during the 80's and early 90's.

So despite hating Blair with a passion I voted for Labour at the last election, not because I wanted Blair in power but because to vote for the opposition would have been even more unthinkable.

Has there ever been a case where a PM's home constituency declined to reelect him?

no need to constantly campaign for re-election, and no excuses for not getting things done..

I would even allow for another term but not without an intervening term by someone else..