Questions were raised yesterday about whether Prime Minister Tony Blair will retire early despite winning a record third election with a healthy, albeit reduced, majority in the British parliament barely 48 hours earlier. The dust had yet to settle on a slightly reshuffled Labour cabinet before the British Press speculated that 52-year-old Blair was past his sell-by date after his party lost scores of seats in Thursday's general election.

But the premier, whose popularity plummeted due to his decision to invade Iraq, has pledged to serve a full term and then retire - making way for his most likely successor: Finance Minister Gordon Brown.

"Tony Blair is facing a lingering political death after his heavy general election losses," wrote the Daily Mail in a front-page article.

"Labour insiders predicted last night that he will stand down next year," it said.

Robin Cook, a Labour MP and ex-foreign secretary, urged the prime minister to set out a timetable for his departure, hinting that he should bow out before local elections next year or after a planned referendum on the EU constitution.

"Tony Blair was elected because the Labour government was more popular than he is," he wrote in an opinion piece in the Guardian.

Blair made history when Labour snared a third straight term in power, winning 356 seats in the 646-seat House of Commons, against 197 for Conservatives and 62 for the Liberal Democrats.

Blair was putting the finishing touches on his new government team yesterday, as observers studied changes in the Cabinet.

"He's prime minister, but the message is: time is running out," said the front-page headline in The Guardian newspaper. The Daily Telegraph, noting the resignation of defeated Conservative leader Michael Howard, asked: "How long before Blair goes too?"

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