LONDON—Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Saturday he did not underestimate the scale of difficulties facing his government but they must not deflect the Labour Party from going on to win the next election.
Blair, who plans to step down later this year, has faced growing calls by opposition parties to bring forward his departure date due to a police investigation into political funding that has seen some of his closest aides arrested.
Blair, questioned by police for a second time about the case last Friday, urged Labour activists on Saturday to look beyond current events.
"In politics at the top you get used to the periodic storms and I don't for a moment, incidentally, underestimate the volume of this one," Blair said in a speech, which made no direct reference to the cash-for-peerages investigation.
"Whilst you ... are in the eye of it, it can be hard to stay calm as it rages, but however buffeted, it should not change our course or our confidence," he said.
"The fourth election will not be decided by current events but it will be by whether we have the dynamism, the energy, the vision and, above all, clear, well thought-out policies for the future of our country."
Blair has said he will step down this year after a decade in power and many politicians expect him to hand over to Chancellor Gordon Brown in July. Blair has said he will not bring forward his resignation despite the rising pressure.
Police are probing whether Labour and other parties recommended donors, or those giving loans, for state honours that come with seats in the unelected upper house of parliament.
Labour's top fundraiser and a Blair aide were arrested last month on suspicion of obstructing justice, leading opposition politicians to draw parallels with Watergate, the scandal that forced former U.S. President Richard Nixon to resign in 1974.
The affair has added another dent to the image of a government battered by the Iraq war. The Conservatives now consistently lead Labour in opinion polls.
In December, Blair became the first serving prime minister to be questioned by police in a criminal investigation.
Police have interviewed him both times as a witness, not a suspect. No one has been charged and all those questioned deny wrongdoing.
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