Heckles, a walk-out and a flash of temper. Blair defiant as he faces unions for final time
It was his last ever address to the TUC. For the most successful Labour leader of all time it should have been a cakewalk. But Blair has defined his Premiership by playing over the heads of the people
in this hall, usually appealing directly to the readers of the Daily Mail.
Yesterday, he did not have to think of the Daily Mail readership as he no longer seeks re-election. And the TUC members did not have to play the game either as they now know he is leaving.
It was an extraordinary occasion.
Even before he rose to speak the atmosphere in the hall was electric. They held various banners aloft, reading "Blair: Go" and "Troops Out of Iraq". When he was finally introduced members of the RMT staged a walkout.
It was impossible not to feel a modicum of sympathy for him. His every joke fell flat. His speech was often interrupted by heckling.
And then he lost his temper... and you suddenly realised why Tony Blair has led the UK for the last ten years, and why - despite any complaints I and others may have regarding his policies - he remains a formidable political figure.
He reminded the hall that before he became leader that the TUC was normally addressed by Labour leaders who were members of the opposition. People who passed resolutions that made them feel good about themselves but mattered not a jot in the real world.
Mr Blair ended his address by making an emotional defence of his record, but couched in terms that suggested he knew he was speaking to an audience that was no longer listening. He acknowledged his power was depleted, saying: "One of the good things about being in my position is that I can give people advice, and it is up to them whether they take it or not."And progress has been made. This is the Labour leader who introduced the minimum wage and who guaranteed full time rights for part time workers. But even pointing this out to the hall was met with stony silence.
He asked delegates to reflect on the past 10 years and realise that the country had changed for the good.
"Government is a hard, difficult business, but it is a darned sight better than wasting our time passing resolutions that no one ever listens to and people never even think about. That is the brutal truth."
Mr Blair said that during his travels he had met "people, above all else, who recognise that, for all the faults, progress there has been in these 10 years, and if we ever forget it we will repeat the mistakes of the past".
He reminded the TUC of the 18 years that Labour spent in the wilderness, a point that I felt with particular resonance, although I still feel that - with the huge majority that he had in the early years - he could have gone further.
As always with Blair, there were times when he hit the nail squarely on the head:
The prime minister said the solution lay in peace in Palestine, describing a deal there as an "indispensable precondition for rolling back the momentum of this global terrorist movement which threatens us".Although, when he defines things with such clarity I am often left wondering why he didn't make this more of a priority whilst he enjoyed such untrammelled power. He would no doubt argue that reducing unemployment and other social demands were more important at the time and it would be hard to argue with that. Although one is left wondering what could have been achieved if he had spoken more forcefully to the American president. Had he shown a fraction of the passion he showed to this hall whilst debating inside the Oval office perhaps we would now be lauding him as the greatest Labour leader of all time.
But Blair was always too much of a pragmatist to employ such passion in the face of genuine opposition. His skill lay in leading Republicans and Daily Mail readers into believing that he was someone they could do business with. All the while securing very modest advances for the Labour movement.
His real passions were only ever on display when he was confronting his own party. I remember well the speech he gave before asking Parliament to approve the Iraq War. Threatening to resign if he didn't get his own way, he positively glowed with conviction and zeal.
And therein lies the rub. He led us without ever being one of us. None of this should undermine the positive steps he has achieved for the lives of ordinary working men and women in Britain. The fall in unemployment, the new workers rights achieved, the improvements in health and education.
I agree with Leahy, Blair has achieved a great deal. And I feel history will be kinder to him that we have been.The unions' response to Mr Blair's speech was mixed. Dave Prentis, the general secretary of Unison, said: "He has never been that comfortable at congress and it really showed today. His heart was not in it."
Mark Serwotka, of the Public and Commercial Services Union, said he thought the prime minister had been nervous . "It confirms that he has run out of steam, and has run out of ideas," he said.
Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB, described the speech as an anticlimax: "He left the stage without a chance of being nominated for an Oscar."
Tony Woodley, general secretary of the Transport & General Workers Union, applauded Mr Blair's achievement in winning three elections but said this was a sad end to his career.
The TUC general secretary, Brendan Barber, praised Mr Blair for his "thoughtful and serious speech".
Michael Leahy, general secretary of Community, said: "I don't think people will appreciate the extent of what Tony Blair has done to improve the lives of working people until he has gone."
However, his real legacy will be defined by his foreign policy rather than his domestic achievements, and it is there that his judgement is found to be lacking. The word "Iraq" will hang around his neck like an albatross, and when one hears him speak of the Palestinian situation, and when one realises that he - almost alone amongst western politicians - realises the true significance of this as it relates to global peace and security, I feel only a profound sense of sadness and lost opportunity.
He should have been none of the greats. He simply lacked the bottle to do it. Or was always too much of a pragmatist to do it. Nevertheless, it is a lost opportunity for all of us.
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