Blair Praises Brown, Says Britain Needs New Team

Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Tuesday the time was right for a fresh team to run Britain.

Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Tuesday the time was right for a fresh team to run Britain and that finance minister Gordon Brown would make a great leader.

Blair, who celebrates 10 years as British prime minister on Tuesday, said he would make an announcement next week, ending months of speculation about when he would finally step down.

"I'll make my position clear next week," he told Good Morning Television. "I'll say something definitive then."

"Ten years is a long time to do this job and I think it's right that it's a fresh team that takes over now."

Asked to rate Brown's past performance as finance minister, Blair said he would give him 10 out of 10.

"And I've always said about him that he would make a great prime minister, and I believe that," Blair said.

Blair is expected to announce his resignation within days of elections to Scottish and Welsh parliaments and English councils on Thursday -- where Labour is predicted to get a drubbing.

The latest speculation is that Blair will throw in the towel after Northern Ireland's assembly meets next Tuesday, finally drawing a line under three decades of violence in the province.

His departure will kick off a contest for the Labour Party leadership that Brown now appears certain to win, automatically becoming Britain's prime minister.