British opposition leader to quit
LONDON, England (CNN) -- British Conservative leader Michael Howard has said he plans to resign after his party's defeat in national elections.
"I did not achieve what I set out to achieve," he told a large crowd of supporters on Friday.
"I want to do now the best for my party and above all for my country."
"I've said that if people don't deliver, they go. And for me, delivering meant winning the election," Howard said. It was the third straight election that the party's leader had announced his departure the next day.
Howard, 63, said the party was considering some rules changes for electing a new leader, and "once that process is complete I shall resign ... sooner rather than later.
"I want to avoid the uncertainty of prolonged debate about the leadership of the party," he told supporters in one of the Tories' newly gained seats in south London.
"I want the next Conservative leader to have much more time than I had to prepare our party for government."
The former Cabinet minister in John Major's government, took over the party leadership in 2003.
Noting that he would probably be 67 or 68 by the time of the next national election, he said: "That's simply too old to lead a party into a government."
The Conservatives slashed Prime Minister Tony Blair's parliamentary majority from 161 to below 70 seats. That is a breakthrough compared to the one seat they gained at 2001's election after a rout in 1997 but the party's 33 percent vote share was barely higher than four years ago.
Some analysts said Howard's focus in the campaign on emotive issues like immigration won them extra seats but did not form a platoform on which to win power.
Meanwhile, analysts said the slip in Labour's lead could loosen Blair's grip on power and prompt calls for him to step down before he has served a full five-year term.
His cabinet colleague and rival, powerful Treasury chief Gordon Brown, is widely regarded as his likely successor. (Blair's secret weapon)
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
