Labour 'could be in power for decades'

Labour could stay in power for "decades" if Tony Blair wins the next election, a Government minister has declared.

In remarks echoing Margaret Thatcher's claim that she would "go on and on", Ms Blears suggested that Labour could rule indefinitely if it combined the hunger of opposition with the caution of government.

"As in other countries, for example Sweden, it is possible that Labour can govern for decades, not merely years," she says in the latest issue of Labour's Progress magazine.

"We need to be the party of government without becoming the party of the establishment.

"If we can achieve this, then we can break the cycle of every past Labour government: in power for a few years, then in opposition for many more."

Ms Blears added that "our project needs a sustained period of Labour in power to move our society in a socialist direction."

Previous Labour prime ministers such as Clement Atlee and Harold Wilson failed to stay in office for extended periods despite their initial popularity. But Mr Blair is on course to win a third consecutive term in Downing Street.

The Prime Minister said at his monthly press conference last week that he intends to oversee personally the raft of five-year public services plans announced in recent weeks.

But he has studiously avoided pinning down his exact length of stay - not just for fear of upsetting Gordon Brown, but because it might seem high-handed.

In an interview earlier this year, he answered questions on serving a full third term by admitting that headlines about going on and on - "that Thatcher business" - could make him sound "arrogant".

So Ms Blears's comments were seized on today by both the Tories and Liberal Democrats.

Tory chairman Liam Fox told the Evening Standard: "Seven years of power clearly has gone to Labour's head.

"The British voters decide who will govern them - and those voters are sick of Labour's smugness and complacency."

Ms Blears, a loyal Blair supporter with an outside chance of making the Cabinet, said the coming general election "represents-the final throw of the dice for hardcore, Right-wing politics in Britain. If Michael Howard can be beaten, we will have finally driven a stake through Thatcherism's heart".

The revelation, a possible security blunder, came in Rome as Mr Berlusconi bragged to his MPs: "This will help reinforce the special rapport I have with my English counterpart."