Lynne's Parliament and Haringey diary

So – today was Tony’s big farewell day. How did he do as regards his speech? Put it like this – if Brown was Prime Minister and Blair the heir apparent, I think after their pair of speeches, Labour members would be begging for Brown to step aside. Tony’s speech was a class act of oratory - unlike Gordon’s dullness the day before.

I have never been much of a fan of the Punch and Judy show that passes for Prime Minister’s Questions, but there’s no doubt that Blair is very, very skilled in that arena. As he also is at the podium in a party conference hall. There is much I disagreed with in his words today, but you can admire his skill in speech making even as you disagree with content.

And now – we enter a rather weird twilight, “he’s going but he’s not yet gone” period. Today’s speech was the speech you expect as someone goes, not months before they go. All very odd!

Labels: gordon brown, tony blair