Britain: Even in one of the darkest moments of his 10 years in power, Tony Blair could not resist delivering a message of defiance to his opponents within Labour, many of whom he regards as ingrates.
Though he could have made his announcement at Downing Street, or a host of other locations, he deliberately chose to use the Quintin Kynaston trust school in North London.
The specialist technical college is one of the first schools to be given trust status - the development that finally broke the umbilical cord between him and many of his backbenchers. Few took much heed yesterday of his choice.
Though he did not name a day, and his tone indicated a late summer departure next year, his supporters last night insisted that he had gone far enough, and that he had gone far further than he should have have been brought.
However much they hate him, even his fiercest enemies in the House of Commons accept the past week has had a devastating impact on Labour's fortunes.
Leadership attempts to calm troubled waters were evident from early morning when it was learned that Mr Blair and chancellor Gordon Brown were to make public statements.
Visiting a sports stadium in Scotland, Mr Brown, who has ached to fill Mr Blair's place for a decade, delivered his own barb, saying he "had questions myself" about Mr Blair's intentions.
But he probably did enough to put off most of those in the Labour ranks, while not all, from assaults on Mr Blair in the immediate term when he said he would support whatever decision the prime minister made.
Mr Blair, on the other hand, sounded weary, apologising on behalf of the Labour Party to the British people for this latest unseemly episode in the wrangling over the premiership.
"It has not been our finest hour, to be frank. But I think what is important now is that we understand that it's the interests of the country that come first and we move on," he said.
For two years, Mr Blair has been determined not to be a lame-duck prime minister as he worked to put through a further round of education and health reforms. Simultaneously, he has had to ensure that Mr Brown's glimpse of the final jewel of political power was never so far off that the Scotsman, far more popular than he with the wider organisation, rebelled.
His strategy, however, has been one thing, his tactics another. In September 2004 he stunned Mr Brown by saying that while he would not seek a fourth term he would serve a full third.
Ever since, Mr Brown, his allies, and others who have begun to wane in their Blairite loyalties have tried to row Mr Blair back from this timetable, with ever-increasing success. Labour's far from finest hour has gone on for a very long time.
