Blair: You Need Me... 'Cos You Just Do

I said it would be messy. And so it will prove to be.

Blair kicked off his defence of his premiership yesterday with a typical gutsy performance that, on the surface, appeared to be totally logical; but when subjected to further scrutiny reveals itself to be no more than a good lawyer's ability to deceive through the use of smoke and mirrors.

He began with a huge concession. He stated that he would give his successor "time to establish himself", which is a retreat from his previous statements that he intended to serve a full term.

So, in this stare out between Blair and the rebels, Blair has blinked first.

However, he refused to give any time scale for this hand over stating that, "To state a timetable [for my departure] now would simply paralyse the proper working of government." In other words, to give any timetable would turn him into even more of a lame duck Prime Minister than he presently is.

So far, so Blair. It developed from there:

Question: Couldn't Gordon Brown renew the Labour Party in office quicker and more effectively than you, and why are you blocking that happening? Are you putting yourself before the interests of your Party?

Blair: Let me just focus on the interests of the country. The interest of the country is that the government that they returned to office for a third time with myself as Prime Minister get on with the business of governing.

At this point he blends the interests of the country with his own survival, somehow implying that the two are interlinked. That's not only delusional, it's bordering on sociopathic.

He had more for us though:

Question: Isn't Iraq your Poll Tax?

Blair: No, I think if that had been the case at the last Election we would not have been returned to power.

That's nonsense. There are many people, myself included, who didn't want to vote Labour because of the Iraq war and were only persuaded to do so when Blair said he would not seek a fourth term in office. We voted on the understanding that a vote for Blair was a vote for Brown. And a protest vote seemed like a wasted vote as the opposition also backed the war.

Blair then went on to imply that infighting would irrevocably harm the Party, whilst ignoring the fact that it was his refusal to stand down that was the source of the infighting.

Nor did he at any point refer to his party's position in the polls which, under his leadership, is now at it's lowest point since 1992.

Support for Labour has dropped since early April by six points to 30 per cent, equal to the lowest in any poll since 1992. By contrast, the Tories are up four points at 38 per cent, opening up the widest gap between the parties in 14 years.

He also ignored the fact that his party has just suffered a calamitous defeat in the local elections, dismissing this as merely "a reaction the last couple of weeks". Implying that Clarke and Prescott should carry the can for this rather than it be seen as the public expressing discontent with him.

He repeatedly warned that to abandon New Labour would only gift the next election to the Tories, stating, "My legacy is a fourth term for Labour."

This is Blair fighting another of his paper dragons. No-one, not even Blair loyalists, are arguing that Brown would dismiss the New Labour project; and it's very hard to see how Blair's legacy is "a fourth term for Labour" given the current poll numbers.

Indeed, it could be argued that the longer Blair stays, the more unlikely a fourth term becomes.

And this is why I dismiss his argument as smoke and mirrors. There will be people reading this who didn't see his press conference; to them I say only that Blair is very persuasive on screen and that he did come across well.

It's when one later examines the substance of what was said that the illusion is revealed.

Blair is insisting that the Labour party needs him, but the latest local election results and the current opinion polling all point to the opposite.

Blair, in an attempt to dismiss those who want a return to old Labour values, has insisted that "Gordon will be New Labour to his fingertips."

This statement undermines his own argument for his indispensability. If Gordon is, "New Labour to his fingertips", why doesn't Blair end the acrimony and hand over now for the sake of the Labour party?

Blair has lots of arguments for why he should remain leader, but he has failed to supply any reasons.

Click title for transcript of Press Conference.

Tags: Blair, Brown, handover, succcession, successor, local, elections, reshuffle, Clarke, Straw, Prescott, Labour, Party,