Prime Minister Tony Blair said Thursday that he will step down as prime minister on June 27, after a decade in office in which he brokered peace in Northern Ireland and followed the United States to war in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“I’ve been prime minister of this country for just over 10 years,” Blair told party members in Trimdon in his northern England constituency.

“I think that’s long enough, not only for me, but also for the country and sometimes the only way you conquer the pull of power is to set it down.”

Blair, President Bush’s closest ally over Iraq, leaves office out of favor among voters for sending British forces to join the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

A Labour Party rebellion in September forced him to say he would quit within a year to allow Treasury chief Gordon Brown, his long-time heir apparent, to take over.