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Blimey...after all the misery (if you're a Labour supporter) of the last few weeks, he's done it. Tony Blair managed to navigate through a conference that many (including myself) thought would be a total nightmare. No ghost of the Iraq War came a-haunting, no bustling out of elderly activists. It's almost as if the air has cleared and Labour can get on with it again. So much so, that Mandleson can come clean about things.

Let's see if they can keep it up for just a few more months...

I don't understand why there was no clamor for TB to stay. The party seems to be resigned to lose the most successful leader it has ever had long before it need to.

Is Brown such a prospect that it's worth risking everything just to see if he can do the job.

Then, if Brown, the best chancellor for years if we believe the hype, becomes PM; who becomes chancellor (and a second rate one at that.)

Once again Nick Robinson's reporting is more akin to that of a gossip columnist than of a serious news reporter. Instead of focusing on the content of Blair's fairwell speech, the reporting turns to personality and drama.
An exceptional example of the dumbing-down of ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ news in recent years.

Perhaps Blair is thinking of joining Take That in place of Robbie Williams when he gives up the day job?

I agree about the mood music - it's all about using subliminal persuasion.

The other subliminal was the story about his sons and the angry guy on the doorstep. It was told to take the audience through the psychological journey of first empathising with the guy on the doorstep who was angry at Blair - but then, having connected with him, feeling remorse for feeling that way and then saying 'I didn't really mean it'.

Very clever and very well executed - I suspect Matthew Freud came up with that one for him.

An eloquent, brilliant speech that as Nick points out, makes life for the Labour Party mucb easier.

Whatever you might think of Blair he is a statesman. He put the good his of his party before the vitriol he must feel for Brown. He knows there is no mileage in leaving in an acrimonius fashion.

I just find it completely astounding that all the backstabbers are now fawning over him. It reminds me of the LibDems at the beginning of the year (although as it turned out perhaps they had some justification).

The behaviour if the Brownites reminds me so much of a Shakespearean drama or the worst of Macchiavelli. I just hope he does not get the big job...although I suppose the odds are he will.

Cameron...keep your nose clean. Articulate good Tory values and policies and the job will be yours. The sooner the better I say.

>It will, of course, mean that - like every great showman - he left the stage with the crowd wanting more.

Please!

How could you be so sloppy Nick!

Ok, so *that* crowd of hand picked sycophants may well have "wanted more" but the rest of us want him gone. Years ago.

Preferably to the Hague.

Carl

The most brilliant speech. My goodness - he is still on the very top of his game.

He is a sublime example of how human mentality can take so much in such a blinding spotlight and yet still have will, understanding, bravery and courage to see out his vision. History will judge him to be one of the most successful PM's of modern times.

This party really does owe it to him. Nick, it really is sad that it was Labour and not Tories who in the end forced him out. What a cruel sport politics is.

Given the dire state of the Labour party's finances they had no business holding a 'big conference'. They should live within their means just like everyone else. I object to the proposal that the taxpayer bails them out. Parties like Respect, the Greens and the BNP have to manage on their limited budgets, why should Labour be any different ? Labour got 22% of the vote in the last general election. In England the Conservatives got 50,000 more votes than Labour. If the minority of the electorate that supported Labour wish to bail them out so be it, but why should the majority who didn't vote for them have to ? They only got 9 million votes. If each voter paid one pound that's still not enough to cover their debts.

Tony Blair has been hounded to this recent point of announcing that he is leaving, much like Charles Kennedy's experience. And likewise, both Charles and Tony gave what I find to be excellent speeches, showing party leaders at the top of their game.

However, I do see a difference. As Charles Kennedy announced his resignation and told it was in the interest of his party, I don't think he came across quite as sincerely as he might have hoped. Although his party might have thought that, I don't think Charles was quite ready to go. Now he finds himself in the difficult position where he no doubt wants to return to the limelight, but that might make his previous concession more visibly mistaken. Whereas the party felt Charles was a liability, he now faces the problem that he really is a liability, not for his drinking but because he left and a void remained.

I think the situation with Tony Blair is different. Admittedly he doesn't have a drink problem, but as recent events do attest, his problems are no less grevious. However, Tony Blair is such an accomplished politician, a true master if there ever was one, that for me he showed absolutely no negativity about the past. Not a bridge was burnt. I do believe that if a void remained after his leaving, the door would be left ajar for his return, if the time was right.

I get the distinct impression that the political force that is Tony Blair can hardly be contained, nor consigned to the annals of history. He prophesied that he would be ever present, and I think he will.

So goodbye then Tony . . . As they say the most successful Labour leader, who did some brilliant things and some poor ones. Although you wouldn't think it to hear some of the comments - he is human after all.
He has to go now, though, because he is a bigger liability than an asset. And Labour has to put on a new, different face - leaving the 'spin' and 'tsars' behind, re-learning committee government, rebuilding the links to its own workers and loyalists.
But it has to do this without losing the links to the new supporters Tony brought to the party - the middle-class, house-owning, white-collar voters without whom NO party can win an election.
Can Gordon do it? I hope so . . .

But in answer to the last poster, Blair also put the US before Britain's interests, Blair put business before citizen... frankly I think the man either a snivelling toad or a damned traitor.

And who will take justice to Mr Blair?

Who will secure justice for those killed in Iraq through Mr Blair's lies?

Who will secure justice for those in Lebanon through Mr Blair's complicity to the US?

Who will secure justice for those who expected Mr Blair to protect them, to find they had been illegally kidnapped with his blessing to face months of torture?

And who will bring about justice for the British who have found their freedoms and liberties stolen by a shyster and his cronies? A shyster that commits crimes yet harps on about law and order.

The best thing this country has needed is Blair gone, Brown will be the same old, same old though, more fascism, more state oppression and spying, more wars against nations who cannot defend against British aggression.

Proud to be British under Blair... certainly not!

Ashamed.

i didnt get a chance to hear the full TB speech but i believe he managed to win over his enemies by using soohting words and lining his speech with statesman prospects.This means he is focusing on the future of the labour party and how it has managed to win three consecutive elections. Also for "guerillas" like peter mandelson to come out of his hiding place and tone down his opinion of tb, then blair is definetly got the right end of the stick. The future of the labour party on the other hand is undecided. personally, i agree with many other centrist out there that the next election is there for labour to lose. there are many reasons for this, amongst the arguements are the idea that gordon is not charismatic enough, he is as far away as possible from the median voter and also the less acceptable fact that he is scottish.Perhaps, someone might be able to pull a magic out of the hat and labour will pull the wool over the eyes of the so called environmentally friendly conservative and "trying-so-hard-to be cool" lib dems. No matter what happens no one can deny the fact that the Tony Blair is the best leader the labour party has had so far. it is highly doubtful that GB would measure up to this success.

Seems then as if Labour isn't quite as 'New' as it once was. Funny that you should call the title of this thread 'Take That,' as the parallels between the speech today, and a fading pop-band are ever more evident. This is Blair's 'Farewell tour' and by trying to dredge up nostalgic sympathy for the euphoric past successes, in reality this serves as a powerful reminder of the fact that time has moved on since 1994 or even 1997, and looks incredibly dated now. Blair appears not as he did in 1994, energetic, young and trendy - but rather as an embarassing middle aged parent who awkwardly attempts to follow modern trends...

Blair's speech tried, like Brown's, to pull out all the stops, and like his, missed the mark by a considerable margin. Yes, we had the 'classic' Blarisims, and the PM looked naturally relaxed, but beneath it, it all looks fake. Blair, is desperate to prevent himself from being forgotten and unloved. He has studied and copied Thatcher for so long now, that he is desperate not to end in the same way. His comment that he wants and will help the party to win, should alarm Gordon Brown - is this his 'Backseat Driver,' moment?

The Labour Party are trying to make out that everything is rosy in the garden. It isn't. Politicians should stop treating the electorate as fools, and get on with governing the country. We aren't interested in soap opera antics...

I watched and heard the speech on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳,about half way through I thought at the end of this speech Tony Blair is going to ascend to heaven and sit somewhere on the right hand of God,with Keir Hardie and Anuerin Bevan

IIt was not a good speech being mainly concerned with trying to justify Tony Blair.Watching John Prescott,looking bored and several other so called heavyweights trying not to look bored was interesting.One got the impression that half the audience was thinking "Thank God" that's over.

I want to move away from the speach as such for a second and ask 1 thing, Tony Blair had his wife and his children at his speach but shouldn't that Children have been at school, truancey is up by 40% and the government is very concerned and rightly so, so why has the PM taken his kids out of school for a day to sit and listen to his speach???

I just can't understand why Blair has to go ? I don't think the labour party should throw away their best leader and our best PM for years just for the heck of it. This is a democratic country - the voters should be deciding who should be the PM - not some silly grey blokes in the party.

It's all nice and shiny because the Labour Party management realise that the media interest is intense. An all-out war during the conference would destroy any hope of Labour surviving in the Scottish Parliament elections next year. However, once Mr Blair goes I can see things getting very nasty, and probably end up with Gordon Brown failing to secure the leadership, with the result of Labour having a poor leader. The speech was good, but five years too late.

Is this site meant to be interactive? Nick - why don't you ever respond to any of the postings? Or at least get someone from the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ to do it.

Any normal forum does this and when you do reply it isn't totally frustrating and anger generating for the people sparing the time to make comments. We want to know your views on our views. It's called feedback. Politicians are notoriously bad at it - but journalists apparently are even worse.

Get lost Blair. Good riddance. You (and Brown) robbed us oldies of our pensions future by thieving 5 billion a year from our pension funds. You and that creep Campbell deceived the electorate and lied to get us to wage war on Iraqi civilians. You were a conspiritor responsible for the betrayal and murder of Dr David Kelly. You destroyed our borders and are swamping Britain with those that don't care about our culture and traditions. You are dragging us into a European rule that obliterates our sovereign rights, getting rid of regiments, police forces, and creating regions that we don't want for the sake of a high position in the European corridors of power. Get lost Blair. You have betrayed your electorate. You are scum..

At last he's going - good.
We now get an unelected PM - bad.
We might get Gordon Brown - disaster.

Labour have - as predicted by anyone who could remember life before 1979 - slowly but surely ruined the country. In the next 18 months I am sure many more financial crises will appear in the NHS, Armed Forces and Public Sector. Unemployement will rise. Interest rates will rise. Tax will rise.

Gordon will preside over the downfall he has orchestrated and the Conservatives will return to save the country as usual.

Hi Nick, If Cherie did indeed put the boot in with her alledged comments then why not? After all it's her husbands reputation/Track record which is at stake! I also can't fail to mention Alaistair campbells dig at you on ch4 news but as a former number 10 spin doctor who could expect anything less? I appreciate that sometimes the press/media get it wrong! But at least with your bulletins the riff raff get a view of what's exactly going on in westminster. John Reid for PM!!!

"... the only legacy that has ever mattered to me - a fourth term election victory that allows us to keep changing Britain for the better."

If Mr. Blair does not believe that Mr. Brown can win against David Cameron then doesn't that mean the months ahead are really about ensuring that Mr. Brown's leadership aspirations are thwarted ?

Can't understand all you cynics who say that Tony Blair failed to mention those less-than-perfect matters of 'progress' which have occurred during the last nine years..
I thought he sees himself as a 'pretty straight sort of a guy'...

Its strange, I can't stand his policies or his politics, he's taken us to war (wrongly), put spin before substance at every stage, reduced our civil liberties (and wants to take this further), led a party that has been involved in more scandal than the Tories of the 90's (after the whiter than white promise), and never fulfilled the promise or mandate that he had in 1997, but even after all that I hear him speak and I can't help but like him and believe him. I suppose thats his gift!!!

I agree that Blair's speech yesterday managed to exceed expectations in many respects.
It seems to me that the creative way forward now - a way of continuing in a practical way for everyone to 'exceed expectations' - would be for him to step down as PM as soon as a successor can be chosen BUT with the expectation that he becomes either Foreign Secretary or the 'UK Special Envoy to the Middle East'in the new government.
OK, it would be difficult to make a deal to enshrine this in advance, but nothing is so powerful as an idea that takes wide root - his own original election as Party leader had a strong element of that about it.

Labour Party Member

In response to Jan (post 23). No one murdered David Kelly - he killed himself.

Of course if you have evidence that the government killed him then please release it, it would get this shower out of power in months rather then years.

Well, we finally HAVE lost our marbles.We have become nostalgic about the past at a future date. I am minded to think about Boris Johnson's comments about mawkishness (strangely in another nearby Northern town) but will refrain from adding fuel to that fire. I for one am not weeping, not sad, nor inclined to cry out for more.

The stage management of entry music is indeed important and the pre-show of Manchester bands Take That & James had a double irony - especially as Take That's own G-MEX performance was one of the high watermark moments of popular culture in the early nineties (the very moment Blair took over the leadership.) The problem is that just as 'Things Can Only Get Better' sounded like the choice of a party 10 years off the pace- so choosing Take That (and even more disturbingly the poundingly virile power of T-REX's 'Get It On' as a departing shot - is that why Cherie and him were so keen to leave the hall quickly...tiger!)once again reveals the opportunist nostalgia that has always been at the heart of the New Labour project. Modernism as middle of the road, Middle England, Middle Class, Mid-life crisis. I'm beginning to think that Ming has got it right, at least he's vainly tried to capture the moment. I would not be suprised if David Cameron, not short of an eye for the Zeitgeist himself, to take to the stage next week to 'I bet you look good on the dancefloor!'

Nick - your article is so disappointing - where are your comments on the content of the speech - lies and all? It's more like a gossip column. Please, please everyone - read Max Hastings' column today in the Daily Mail for a true (and frightening) analysis of Tony Blair's years in office. Truly TB is a 'hollow man'. So - he's a great orator - well, as another comment said, so was Hitler!

The real tragedy is that much of the damage done by Blair to the United Kingdom is still to manifest itself. The crisis in private pensions (which were healthy when he took office) was brought about by his chancellor's outageous tax impost. Many people will only discover how badly they have been hit when they come to retire.

The personal debt mountain on which the economy now survives will end in tears, and will certainly not be helped by forcing students (in England at least) to leave university burdened by debt before they even start a career.

Savers who had managed to squirrel away funds in PEPs and ISAs found their tax advantage removed and so stopped saving. Why bother when means tested benefits given to the profligate leave them no better off? Savings are at an all time low. Independence in old age will become an increasingly distant memory for most, but how will the nation afford to fund the increasing reliance on state handouts?

Ribbons of red tape have been increasingly stiffling business since 1997. Tax regulations have never been so complicated. Figures published today show that the UK has slipped even further down the list of competitive nations.

Worst of all, the very glue that holds the nation together has been weakened by the flawed way in which devolution was introduced. A slowly burning fuse has been lit in England which, if not extinguished soon (and fairly)will lead to an explosion which will threaten the very existence of the United Kingdom. Meanwhile in Scotland, the Nationalists have been handed the very weapon with which they can themselves kill the Union. Should disillusionment with New Labour lead to a SNP majority in the Scottish parliament, as well it might, then expect calls for a referendum on Scottish independence to follow close behind.

Tony Blair will certainly have a lasting legacy in the history books. It just may not be the one for which he wished.

It could just be me? but has anyone else thought that all this has been stage managed, a carefully crafted deception to divert the headlines from the appalling massacre of the Iraqi people that Bush/Blair have orcastrated.Lets face it there are going to be a lot of days ahead when who is going to be the next PM will push every other news story out of sight.A lot of days to bury bad headlines and keep it running as long as possible as we know Labour have done that before.Of course it`s a far fetched theory but it`s one that is working so far.It would also mean that we are getting more immuned to the suffering of the Iraqi people as time goes on,that has also happened before.

Hello Nick,

Subject : Pedantry/Or the face that caused a thousand clips

Last night in your report of Blair's speech you mentioned that "John Reid's face said..."

Is this now an accepted journalistic technique? Can sources now give you a quote/briefing by grimace and gurning alone? Some more than other facially challenged politicians would be good at this - Blears and Prescott spring to mind, oh and Hewitt, they each seemed to be making very painful facial speeches with the grimace gurn method throughout Blair's speech. Very rude I thought.

Finally please advise where you learn to read faces? Or is something you're born with?

Regards,

Simon Petty

Yesterday the news was filled with sychophantic, sickening accolades for the worst Prime Minister in living memory. It is a Labour PR trick stolen from the old Soviet era that you tell people that everything in the past was bad so that you believe the lies told by the present rulers. Things are not better. Ten years ago the same pension pot would have brought a pension 3 times bigger, your endowment would have given you 3 times more, you would have paid a third in Council tax, you would not have to bankrupt yourself to send you children to University, there were no ASBOs or Hoodies, towns were not being destroyed by over development. The media should expose the lies.

The speech left who wanting more of what?

The Labour Party have been against every reform that he has proposed, meaning that he has ended up reforming very little.

So what would be the difference if he stayed on for a year more or ten?

Nick want to get outside his political correspondent bubble occasionally and get some perspective. What is more important, that this is Tony Blair's last speech as leader and no-one jeered, or that he will be British Prime Minister for another 8 months? What does this say about our political system?

If Blair stays until next June that's New Labour destroyed in the Holyrood elections next May. Excellent! Come on the SNP.

Could I propose "Send in the Clowns" or "Road to Nowhere" as more appropriate music for any party conference today.

For those chiding Nick for not commenting on the "content" of Blair's speech ..... Hellooo ? There was none !

Here's another prediction : next week, Cameron will give one of his ultra cool, ultra reasonable speeches, and suddenly all this Labour hysteria will fall into perspective. Unfortunately, the conference audience will make a backdrop every bit as ghastly as Labour's (or the LibSocDem's).

Bill Clinton thinks that ... " you (Labour) will continue to be the change makers after the next election" ....
Buahahah ! Ha Ha !
Slick Willy is losing it.

Labour conferences are like friendly football matches. You have the backing of the entire audience most of the time. Its a huge spin. No foul play. Lots of back slapping, loads of rhetoric and hardly any blood on the walls. Its a sort of party political broadcast. Then out comes the captain, Tony Blair. Both arms broken, both legs in plaster, fractured skull, busted nose, no teeth ..His replacement is just warming up. The referee has looked at him and said..."Want to go off? "Not likely ref" comes the reply "Im not leaving yet"..."theres the second half to play"...

Margaret - since when have the Daily Mail started printing "true analysis"?
If I want fairy tales I'll read Hans Christian Andersen thanks.

Nick, it’s at times like these when I realise how easy it was for Blair to con sufficient of his contemporaries and a large part of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ into supporting, or at least not questioning him sufficiently, over his twisted vision for the Labour Party, the country and the whole wide world ….. sorry, I got a bit carried away there.

Too many commentators, who should know better, have described Blair’s conference speech as ‘a masterpiece’ ‘incredible’ ‘brilliant’ when in fact it was a typical arrogant, delusional and theatrical Blair speech, designed to give those who would be just as at home at a Billy Graham rally, the dose of hero worship that they crave for. The man is a dangerous self-serving egotist who should have been forced out of power a long time ago because of the damage and misery that he has been party to.

I wonder what would be the best to play at the Labour Party conference:

Arctic Monkeys - Mardi Bum
Arctic Monkeys - When the sun goes down
Greenday - American Idiot
Talking Heads - Road to nowhere
Stone Roses - I am the resurrection
Automatic - Monster

Or I suppose, at a push, The Spice Girls - Stop.

I ought to have known that the country was in trouble when I heard Fatboy Slims' Praise you played at one of the conferences.

This speech was a litany of blatant lies from start to finish, and the only reason you had a hall full of devotees, is because these are surely, the only people left in the entire country that are still gullible enough to believe a word of it.

Nick Robinson, You have fallen into a mass delusion of the sort that freakish religious cults depend upon to enslave the minds of their followers. Classic brain washing techniques were used in that Hall prior to and during the speach. Anyone who understands NLP and hypnotism could see these tricks a mile off.

They are a cover for lies and deception, and you fell for them.

Please, Nick, stop propping up a despised, hated, lame and irrelevent prime minister. It may well be wonderful for the tories for Tony to stay in power until next May, For they are the ONLY people who could benefit from it. But it does no good for the labour party or the country.

Speaking as a Daoist, Buddhist, and martial artist, I've been pleased at how the government, led by Prime Minister Blair, has got on the cluetrain. For instance, they recognise the value of structure and harmony, process, and how better ways lead to better results. Yes, that’s a gloss over past mistakes and present failings, but I’ve been really impressed by how this agenda is being executed.

Some time ago, I wrote to my Member of Parliament, who is from another party, and suggested his parties contrary and rude behaviour wouldn’t translate into votes, and that the Prime Minister would soon shift to a much more positive and self-effacing gear, and leave his opponents in the dust. Indeed, Prime Minister Blair’s conference speech and remaining exit strategy seems to confirm this.

My personal view is that mediocrity of action and relationships, lack of ambition and infighting, is a procrastination Britain is beginning to move on from. While many difficulties over law and order, family life, and business remain, I think, we have started to turn a corner. The Prime Minister is responsible for being a catalyst for change but people might like to consider how they’ve helped shape success.

You're a virulent lot aren't you?

I must be honest i think TB's main mistake was pandering too much to the media, which so very rarely reflects the publics opinions or wishes, although it far too frequently guides them!

I don't think the more vitriolic comments here show anything except that people who are too emotive about a subject can't think straight!

What music? All that came out of my tv set was a lot of discordant cacophony - appropriate to the lot there, I suppose.

Ken Hall, I am guessing you are a Labour supporter, as only a Labour supporter can think that what is good for the Labour party is also good for the country.

What is best for this country is for people to wake up and realise just how bad this shower have been. They have used smoke and mirrors to hide the cracks, and the longer they are in power the worse the eventual crash will be.

Well Nick we are coming to the end of the second Tory conference we have had to endure this year GOOD NEWS not really I hear another is coming up although the one coming up is the REAL McCoy and not a nasty cheap imitation.We may find out how far they have got with taking the vote off the working class after all the BIG talking point on the floor off the Tories 2000 Blackpool conference was who should be allowed to vote,they were more then a little peeved at labour getting in to ruin all there own perceived good work.Do me a favour Nick and find out who is to be allowed to vote when/after the Tories get in again.Thanks mate.

.

I find myself quite bemused by the positive reception of the Blair farewell conference speech.

It seemed to me the usual specious confection of histrionic manipulation and rhetorical crafting, magnified by its context, the emotional tension of a big public Party occasion.

That I shall be glad to see Blair go must be self-evident, given the amount he has perpetrated 'not in my name' (the last time I voted Labour was in '97, after previously solid support for the party). Given the amount of serious revulsion from Blair which I encounter in frequent political conversations with quiet ordinary folk like myself, where does this misty-eyed sentimentality spring from?

Many people have a lot to thank Tony Blair for (even though it may be unfashionable to say so)

Pensioners, pension credit, winter fuel payments, local bus passes (national from next year)

Parents - child tax credit, baby bonds, child care credits, more money spent on schools, yes this is a fact, I have been a governor for twenty years, the difference a Labour government made was tremendous.

think about what we had under the last Tory government, remember what they did to entire communities, many of 'Dave' Camerons shadow cabinet where part of that government, as was Dave and his shadow chancillor as advisers.

Wednesday evening. How come Nick Robinsons's evening report from Brighton shows him with a full moon in the background when the rest of us only have a three quater moon ?

If this is fiddled what else is ?

Pip Youngman
Taunton

This article is a bit subjective (in terms of Nick obviously wanting a Tory government). Is it the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s job the make propaganda?

There have been dangerous outbreaks of the truth this week in towns as widely dispersed across the country, as Bournemouth, where Boris Johnson told the truth on school dinners and obviously a bad occurrence in Blackburn. Other minor outbreaks include the fact that course work in schools has suddenly been perceived as educationally useless and Brian Sewell on the Today programme has indicated that a London art exhibition is total rubbish. Are these outbreaks a precursor to a major lethal epidemic? Where will it end, and is Downing Street itself, immune?