TONY BLAIR should quit by January or Labour could lose the next election, a Kent backbencher has warned.

Sittingbourne and Sheppey MP Derek Wyatt urged the Prime Minister to bring forward his departure from Downing Street ahead of key local elections next May.

Mr Wyatt said: "My view is that we cannot afford to lose the Scottish and Welsh elections next May in the way we lost this year’s local elections.

"That is why I would prefer Mr Blair to stand down in January, giving time for his successor to prepare."

If that did not happen "we are going to struggle to win the next election", he added.

"At most of the meetings I have been to in my constituency over recent months, the one question that I keep getting asked is: 'when is he [Tony Blair] going to go?'"

The MP’s comments came as Mr Blair appeared to be facing a mounting revolt over his refusal to name a departure date, despite hints he will go next May.

Meanwhile, a loyalist backbencher has admitted the continuing speculation about Tony Blair’s departure is damaging Labour and is unhelpful.

Gillingham MP Paul Clark said voters were not interested in the internal party debate about when the Prime Minister would quit and wanted the Government to "get on with running the country".

Mr Clark, a key advisor to Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, is among 49 MPs who signed a letter which welcomed a declaration by minister David Miliband that there would be an "orderly and stable transition" to the next leader.

Mr Clark said: "We need to get on with the job we were elected to do only 15 months ago.

"It is far more important that we deal with the issues facing people. I do not think this constant speculation from all quarters is helpful at all. The electorate will not be impressed if we are seen to be concentrating on our own agenda rather than theirs."

He went on to say that he was "more than happy" with the outline plans for Mr Blair’s departure.

But he accepted speculation that the Prime Minister would quit at the end of next May meant that people would question "whether he was a lame duck Prime Minister which would not help anybody".

Chatham and Aylesford MP Jonathan Shaw, who is a government whip, denied the Government was in a state of paralysis and the party was in the same position as the Conservatives at the tail end of their administration in the 1990s.

He said: "We have to ensure the party operates in a disciplined way and is united. We are carrying through important policy initiatives, like the energy review and the pensions review. When John Major had a leadership crisis, his response was to introduce the traffic cones hotline."