"PLEASE don't go - I beg you don't go." The strains of singer Donald Peers's classic could almost be heard reverberating on the Teesside air as Redcar MP Mo Mowlam bowed out of politics at the Brighton Conference yesterday.
It came as no surprise to her constituents, who bestowed on her the freedom of the borough, that voters in a national opinion poll want to see her at Number Ten.
Mo, who is put forward as a role model in Teesside schools, is the people's favourite to succeed Tony Blair as Prime Minister, according to a survey conducted for the Sunday Express.
She won the support of 34 per cent of those polled, beating Chancellor Gordon Brown into second place with 23 per cent. Runner up was Education Secretary David Blunkett, with 12 per cent.
A spokesman for Eston Labour Club said: "She is immensely popular around here."
Observers say the poll will embarrass Blairites, who are blamed for a whispering campaign leading to her decision to stand down at the next General Election
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