Today is the first day of the rest of Tony Blair’s life. When his head hit the pillow last night, it is fair to assume that he was unburdened by sorrow at the prospect of never again experiencing the joys of bolshie unions. His farewell TUC speech was the first such staging post since last week’s failed coup wrung out of Mr Blair in public what even the most witless of his MPs knew was likely to be the case: that he would be gone within a year. In the run-up to the Prime Minister’s departure there will be similarly significant dates: his last party conference speech, his last appearance on children’s TV, his final emotional encounter with Gordon Brown and his final grand tour.
At the end of last week, Mr Blair’s aides indicated that despite the trauma of confronting prime ministerial mortality, Mr Blair was feeling rather liberated. At the time, such a prognosis appeared premature. Yesterday, though, it seemed much more accurate. Mrs Thatcher delivered one of her most memorable performances at the dispatch box hours after telling the Cabinet that she was quitting. Mr Blair did not, in so many words, tell his union critics “I’m going to enjoy this”, but his message and his body language said just that. It promises to be some swansong if Mr Blair spends the next six or eight months taking on his domestic foes with such verve, without having to care much for the consequences.
In any travelling circus there are sideshows, and yesterday’s was provided by Peter Hain launching his bid for the Labour deputy leadership, a job that is not yet vacant. It is true that Mr Hain himself sometimes appears vacant, but he would best serve a Brown administration by becoming a weights and measures commissioner in Brussels.
Perhaps the most telling part of the day’s political theatre, the best illustration of how last week’s events have changed the political landscape, happened not under lights in the Brighton conference hall but back in London. While Mr Blair was talking, Gordon Brown’s spokesman made clear that the Chancellor felt moved to condemn the walkout by Bob Crow and his unreconstructed RMT colleagues that had greeted the Prime Minister.
Why? Because Mr Brown realises he needs to start exhibiting the kind of statesmanship required of a prime minister if he is to fulfil his long-held ambition. And he urgently needs to start repairing the relations with Blairites that were so badly damaged by last week’s ructions. Trust may be beyond reach at the moment, but Mr Brown is right to realise that overt loyalty is the only way to deal with accusations of covert disloyalty.
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Mr Brown is already moving his possessions, including, perhaps, the gift for his son so kindly delivered in person by Tom Watson, Mr Blair’s would-be assassin, into the flat above No 10. As Mr Brown knows, No 10 is a house that can be hard to make into a family home. Mr Brown is not renowned for his taste in decor, but at least his political judgment has returned.