LONDON - Prime Minister Tony Blair's predecessor, John Major, is urging Blair to delay calling a general election for May and to put all his efforts into eradicating Britain's foot-and-mouth epidemic.
Major, the Conservative Premier ousted by Blair in a 1997 landslide, yesterday told the Prime Minister it would be "quite
wrong" to hold an election in May "unless you are satisfied beyond doubt that the crisis has been brought fully under control."
Blair still seemed determined to call a May 3 election, having summoned junior and middle-ranking ministers to his office to put them on alert for a campaign.
However, there were signs he might be taking a closer look at the pros and cons of calling an election a year earlier than needed because the month-long epidemic is worsening and anger is mounting in rural Britain.
Some political analysts said Blair may have underestimated the seriousness of the outbreak for both the farming industry and the lucrative tourism sector.
The furious farmers Blair faced in northwest England on Thursday, and an opinion poll showing his Labour party's lead over the Conservatives had slipped from 15 points to nine, showed there are political risks in going ahead with an election that only a month ago he was certain to win with a big majority.
The Conservatives, farmers' leaders and even some Labour politicians have suggested it would be insensitive to hold an election campaign while many parts of rural Britain are quarantined "no-go" areas and the carcasses of tens of thousands of animals burn on pyres.
It had been an open secret for months before the outbreak that Labour was laying plans for a May 3 election to capitalise on opinion poll leads of 20 points and more and take advantage of a so-called "feel good" factor due to a buoyant economy. Now Blair has to contend with accusations from farmers and opposition parties that he has done too little too late to combat the spread of the highly contagious livestock disease.
Major, writing in the Daily Telegraph, dismissed Government arguments that putting off the general election might send the wrong signal to the rest of the world and harm Britain's lucrative tourism industry. "Only eradication ... not some half-witted spin-doctoring, will rescue it."
Ireland on Thursday became the third other European country, after France and the Netherlands, to confirm an outbreak of foot-and-mouth.
Irish food and animal exports were worth about $US5.65 billion ($13.6 billion) last year, about 10 percent of total export receipts. An estimated 60,000 jobs in agriculture and tourism are now at risk in the country of 3.8 million people.
- REUTERS
Herald Online feature: Foot-and-mouth disaster
UK outbreak map
World organisation for animal health
UK Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
The European Commission for the Control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease
Pig Health/Foot and Mouth feature
Virus databases online
LONDON - Prime Minister Tony Blair's predecessor, John Major, is urging Blair to delay calling a general election for May and to put all his efforts into eradicating Britain's foot-and-mouth epidemic.
Major, the Conservative Premier ousted by Blair in a 1997 landslide, yesterday told the Prime Minister it would be "quite
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