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GOODBYE WAVE: Mr Blair (second from left) yesterday leaving 10 Downing Street for the last time as Prime Minister with his family - (from left) eldest son Euan, daughter Kathryn, youngest son Leo, wife Cherie and second son Nicky. -- PHOTO: AP
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LONDON - IN A historic day for British politics, Mr Tony Blair stepped down as Prime Minister yesterday after a decade in power and received a standing ovation from lawmakers from all sides in the House of Commons.
He faced his last question-and-answer session with lawmakers in the Commons, before leaving 10 Downing Street for good.
As they left the official residence, the Blair family - including their four children - posed for the gathered world media.
Mr Blair said nothing to the press as they got into a waiting car, but his wife Cherie smiled and waved at the press and said she would not 'miss' them. Earlier this month, her husband had accused the media of behaving like 'a feral beast', tearing apart people's reputations.
The family then travelled to Buckingham Palace, where Mr Blair offered his resignation to the Queen during a 25-minute meeting.
TV cameras captured the entire proceedings in a day full of nostalgia and a degree of relief over the departure of Mr Blair, and buzz about the changes ahead under new Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
At the age of 43, Mr Blair was the youngest Premier to take office since 1812 and expectations were high that he could spearhead a new beginning for Britain.
But voter dissatisfaction gradually crept in, culminating in a million people protesting on the streets of London against the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Yesterday saw protests by demonstrators chanting slogans and waving placards against Britain's involvement in the Iraq war as Mr Blair left Downing Street.
The war has largely overshadowed his achievements, which include transforming the old-left Labour Party into a business-friendly force which kept Britain's economy booming for the last 10 years; devolution in Scotland and Wales; and the achievement of peace and the restoration of power-sharing in Northern Ireland.
During yesterday's Commons questions, a visibly emotional Mr Blair used his final weekly session to say sorry for the perils faced by British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, but gave no apology for his controversial decision to back the United States in taking military action.
He refused to accept critics' views that British troops are fighting in vain.
'I don't and I never will. I believe they're fighting for the security of this country and wider world against people who would destroy our way of life,' he said.
Most of the session was taken up by plaudits from lawmakers from both his own Labour Party and the opposition Conservatives.
Visibly choking back emotion, Mr Blair paid tribute to lawmakers who have assailed him at the weekly Prime Minister's Questions over the last decade.
'Some may belittle politics but we who are engaged in it know that it is where people stand tall,' he said. 'If it is on occasion the place of low skulduggery, it is more often the place for the pursuit of noble causes.'
He signed off: 'I wish everyone, friend or foe, well. And that is that, the end.'
Legislators rose to their feet and gave the outgoing leader rapturous applause as he left the chamber to head for his meeting with the Queen.
Some lawmakers, including Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, dabbed away tears.
US President George W. Bush had earlier paid a final tribute to his ally.
'Tony's had a great run and history will judge him kindly,' he told Britain's The Sun tabloid in remarks published yesterday.
ASSOCIATED PRESS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
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