TONY Blair sealed his own fate by "pre-announcing" his resignation two-and-half years ago, Alan Milburn said last night.

The Darlington MP and former Cabinet minister said the Prime Minister could have stayed at No10 for several more years if he had not made the mistake of setting a departure date.

In September 2004, Mr Blair announced he would not fight a fourth General Election, but he would serve a full third term - a pledge he has been unable to keep.

At the time, the announcement was seen as a mechanism to snuff out Labour plots to unseat him and shore up support for the General Election campaign to come.

It also conveniently distracted attention from Mr Blair's renewed heart problems and the decision to buy a £3.65m home in London's Connaught Square.

But Mr Milburn, who has labelled the announcement "mad", said: "Undoubtedly, Tony's decision to pre-announce did hasten his own departure.

"Ten years is a hell of a long time to serve as prime minister but, personally, I wish he wasn't going yet.

"At the time, I argued with him that pre-announcing his departure was not the wisest thing to do, but he did it anyway. You have to be very careful about predicting your own demise."

In recent weeks, leading Blairites John Reid and Charles Clarke have thrown their weight behind Gordon Brown, Mr Blair's near-certain successor. But Mr Milburn declined to see whether he would vote for the Chancellor if there is leadership contest.

Instead, he paid a warm tribute to Mr Blair, saying: "Tony is Labour's best and most successful Labour leader, not just in winning elections but in changing the country for the better.

"For the North-East, it has been a huge source of strength to have one of our MPs serving as the country's prime minister.

"The region is transformed from 1997."