The Osterley Times: Blair delivers stunning goodbye.

He's always been the King of Conference speeches, but it's fair to say that Tony Blair kept the best till last. Labour Party members who have spent the last couple of months calling for his head sat, moist eyed, in the palm of his hand as the old charmer used self deprecation and hard political facts to, once again, disarm his critics and leave the Conference baying for more.

He started with a gag:

I know I look a lot older. That's what being leader of the Labour party does to you.

Actually, looking round some of you look a lot older. That's what having me as leader of the Labour party does to you.

It was classic Blair, never shirk from what your opponents identify as your greatest weakness, get in there first and claim it as your own. There's something very charming about someone who does this.

Then he went on to list his party's achievements:

Now, for all that remains to be done, dwell for a moment on what has been achieved.
We have had the longest period of sustained economic growth in British history.
Mortgage repossession, like mass unemployment, are terms we have to be reminded of.
The last NHS winter crisis was six years ago.
Heart patients wait on average less than three months. Cancer deaths are down by 43,000.
You are more likely to see a new school building than a crumbling one.
There are virtually no long- term young unemployed.
Today we ask: can we meet our ambitious targets on child poverty when, before 1997, the idea of a child poverty target would have been laughable?
We have black ministers and the first woman and then the first black woman leader of the Lords. Not enough women MPs but twice what there were.
A London mayor, thankfully Labour again. Devolution in Scotland and Wales. But not just this.
Free museum entry that has seen a 50% rise in visitors.
Banning things that should never have been allowed: handguns, cosmetic testing on animals; fur farming, blacklisting of trade unionists and from summer next year, smoking in public places.
Allowing things that should never have been banned: the right to roam; the right to request flexible working; civil partnerships for gay people.
And in 2012 it is London that will host the Olympic games.
Of course, the daily coverage of politics focuses on the negative.
But take a step back and be proud: this is a changed country.
Above all, it is progressive ideas which define its politics. That is the real result of a third term victory.
And the Tories have to pretend they love it.
The Bank of England independence, they never did in 18 years, the minimum wage, they told us would cost a million jobs. The help for the world's poor, they cut. They fall over themselves saying how much they agree with us.
Don't lose heart from that; take heart from it.
We have changed the terms of political debate.
This Labour government has been unique.

Now considering he is talking about the achievements of the very people he was addressing, this was always going to go down very well.

However, he defined politics as not what you have achieved, but as what you have the power to deliver:

I spoke to a woman the other day, a part-time worker, complaining about the amount of her tax credit.
I said: hold on a minute: before 1997, there were no tax credits not for working families not for any families; child benefit was frozen; maternity pay half what it is; maternity leave likewise and paternity leave didn't exist at all. And no minimum wage, no full time rights for part time workers, in fact nothing.
"So what?", she said "that's why we elected you. Now go and sort out my tax credit." And, of course, she's right.

He then addressed his leaving Number 10 and did so with a directness and a lack of bitterness that, considering the machinations and power play of the past few months, left one open mouthed with gratitude. This man could have plunged the knife in, but he didn't. And my admiration for him increased ten fold.

The truth is, you can't go on forever. That's why it is right that this is my last conference as Leader.
Of course it is hard to let go. But it is also right to let go. For the country, and for you, the party.

He then faced the man who's plotting is said to have contributed more than anything else to his downfall.

I know New Labour would never have happened, and 3 election victories would never have been secured, without Gordon Brown.
He is a remarkable man. A remarkable servant to this country. And that is the truth.

He then went on to list the global challenges facing the next Labour leader and highlighting how different they were from the challenges that he faced ten years ago.

He defined Labour as the party of the people and warned that Labour must never again aim simply to appeal to it's base. The country he said, was Labour's base.

He finally warned against easy anti-Americanism.

Yes it's hard sometimes to be America's strongest ally.
Yes, Europe can be a political headache for a proud sovereign nation like Britain.
But believe me there are no half-hearted allies of America today and no semi-detached partners in Europe.
And the truth is that nothing we strive for, from the world trade talks to global warming, to terrorism and Palestine can be solved without America, or without Europe.
At the moment I know people only see the price of these alliances.
Give them up and the cost in terms of power, weight and influence for Britain would be infinitely greater.
Distance this country and you may find it's a long way back.

He then delighted Conference by rounding on the Tories:

David Cameron's Tories? My advice: get after them.
His foreign policy. Pander to anti-Americanism by stepping back from America . Pander to the Eurosceptics through isolation in Europe. Sacrificing British influence for party expediency is not a policy worthy of a prime minister.
Built to last? They haven't even laid the foundation stone. If we can't take this lot apart in the next few years we shouldn't be in the business of politics at all.

This was music to their ears.

He then prepared for the final goodbye:

They say I hate the party, and its traditions. I don't. I love this party. There's only one tradition I hated:
Losing.
I hated the 1980s not just for our irrelevance but for our revelling in irrelevance. And I don't want to win for winning's sake but for the sake of the millions here that depend on us to win, and throughout the world.
Every day this government has been in power, every day in Africa, children have lived who otherwise would have died because this country led the way in cancelling debt and global poverty.
That's why winning matters.
So keep on winning. Do it with optimism. With hope in your hearts.
Politics is not a chore. It's the great adventure of progress. I don't want to be the Labour leader who won three successive elections. I want to be the first Labour leader to win three successive elections.
So: it's up to you.
You take my advice. You don't take it. Your choice.
Whatever you do, I'm always with you. Head and heart. You've given me all I have ever achieved, and all that we've achieved, together, for the country.
Next year I won't be making this speech.
But, in the years to come, wherever I am, whatever I do. I'm with you. Wishing you well. Wanting you to win.
You're the future now. Make the most of it.

It was a speech that was as notable for what he didn't say as for what he did. But he wowed them, and me. It is untrue, as many papers will today imply, that the Party suddenly realises what a mistake it has made.

Blair got it right, it is time for him to go. But it was joyous to, once again, be held in the palm of possibly the greatest British orator since Churchill and have him not scold us but remind us of what collectively we have achieved.

He did it with such dignity, such charm, such self deprecation. It was impossible not to be moved.

There are times when someone steps up to the occasion and delivers by hitting every ball clean out of the park.

Blair delivered. By God, did he bloody deliver. Breathtaking stuff. There will be time, in the future, to examine Blair's premiership in more detail. For now, it is enough to appreciate the grace of that exit from Conference, the knives unplunged, the rivalries apparently forgiven.

There was so much more he could have said, and the graceful way he chose not to say it is an incalculable debt that he is owed by the party.

Even I stood for the old bugger. Despite all our differences on policy, I stood. There is no greater compliment I can pay than that.

Click title for full speech.