Blair Defies His Party Over Departure Date

The Times today has an article which quotes Martin Linton talking about the date of Tony Blair's departure.

Martin Linton, a Blair loyalist, said last night: “I've always thought that he’s said he will give his successor ample time. There’s no need for us to spend all our time speculating about when that might be because he’s in the middle of a lot of things.”

On the face of it, this would seem to contradict yesterday's Guardian story.