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LONDON — Prime Minister Tony Blair was locked in a fight Wednesday to keep control over when he leaves office, with 15 Labour lawmakers demanding he step down. They included eight junior members who resigned to protest his refusal to do so.

Blair warned the rebels that infighting would jeopardize the governing Labour Party’s effort to hold onto power, while top officials sent strong signals that the prime minister intended to leave office within a year.

Blair’s office could not immediately confirm reports that the prime minister intended to make a public statement on his future Thursday. The prime minister intended to use a scheduled visit to a London school with Education Secretary Alan Johnson to make his intentions clear, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported.

The revolt of low-level officials was unlikely to dislodge Blair from office, though it could help force him to speed up his departure and raised fears the eventual change of command in Britain would be rancorous and messy.

Blair, who led Labour to its third straight election win last year, has said he would not seek a fourth term. He also promised to give his successor — widely expected to be Treasury chief Gordon Brown — time to settle into office before the next election, expected in 2009.

Two more suspects charged over alleged plot to bomb U.S.-bound airliners

LONDON — Authorities charged two more suspects Wednesday in an alleged plot to blow up passenger-laden jetliners bound for the United States, bringing to 17 the number formally charged.

One other suspect was released without charge, while two others were still being held. Police have a few hours before a legal deadline to charge or release the two.

All five have been held for 28 days — the maximum length of time allowed under Britain’s new anti-terrorism laws. Police said the two suspects, Donald Douglas Stewart Whyte and Muhammed Usman Saddique, 24, were charged with preparing an act of terrorism.

The five suspects were rounded up with about two dozen others in raids on Aug. 9-10 into the alleged plot to assemble and detonate improvised explosives on board as many as 10 U.S.-bound planes carrying hundreds of passengers. Five others had been released.

The purported attack would have caused mass murder on an "unimaginable scale,” police as said they announced arrests in early August — leading to major terror alerts in the United States and Britain, and causing major disruptions to air travel.<