A ministry of all the talents?

"I would relish the opportunity to take on David Cameron and the Conservative Party. And in that endeavour I would be determined to draw on all the talents of our party and country." So said Gordon Brown in his conference speech on Monday, in what was probably intended more as an "inclusive" gesture to his potential Cabinet rivals than a pledge to bring Tories and Liberal Democrats into a national unity Government.

By complete coincedence, however, the BBC is currently running one of its periodic Fantasy Cabinet games which does indeed give users the right to select a team of 10 drawn from all the major parties.

Mine is predictably left-of-centre in nature, though I have found room for two Lib Dems and two Tories. Gordon Brown gets the premiership of course, as befits the most towering figure in British politics besides Blair, but I've also found room for other leadership hopefuls John Reid, David Miliband and Alan Johnson.

My favourite Tory politician, David Davis, gets the Defence brief, while David Cameron gets the consolation prize of Culture Sec, a suitably lightweight post for an incorrigibly lightweight politician.

The full list:

Prime Minister: Gordon Brown
Deputy Prime Minister: Sir Menzies Campbell
Chancellor: David Miliband
Foreign Secretary: Peter Hain
Home Secretary: John Reid
Defence Secretary: David Davis
Health Secretary: John Denham
Education Secretary: Alan Johnson
Environment Secretary: Chris Huhne
Culture Secretary: David Cameron

Incidentally the BBC game also allows people to vote for TB. It will be interesting to see how many takers they get after yesterday.

Spot the difference

"Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Matthew 28, vv 18-20


"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."

Tony Blair, 26 September 2006

Blair the healer says farewell

And so it is done. Tony Blair has made his last party conference speech as Labour leader and Prime Minister, and British politics will never be quite the same again.

Watching the speech via the BBC website rather than live in the conference hall as of old, it was clear to me that he has his eyes on one last great historical achievement before he hands over, working to resolve the Middle East conflict that is the fulcrum of so many of the world's problems.

"I will dedicate myself with the same commitment I have given in Northern Ireland to advancing peace between Israel and Palestine," he said.

If he can achieve that, I will gladly take back everything I have ever said about him.

But Mr Blair also made clear his intention to try to heal the wounds closer to home, pledging to work to unify the party in pursuit of "the only legacy that matters" - a fourth-term general election win.

And in that context, though they stopped short of an endorsement, his words about Gordon Brown this afternoon must surely be seen as an attempt to end the "deep fissure" in the New Labour family about which Peter Mandelson spoke this morning.

Mandelson's words seemed to me to signal a rapprochement and Blair's tribute to Brown's "remarkable service to the country" has underlined that.

Are the Blairites finally getting the message that by attacking Gordon, they only help David Cameron's Tories in the longer-run? Let's hope so.

Either way, this speech surely laid to rest any scurrillous suggestions that Blair sees Cameron as his real political heir, and is content to adopt an "apres moi le deluge" approach to the Labour Party.

The attacks on Cameron were the most convincing - and most loudly applauded - bits of the speech, mocking his foreign policy for simultaneously flirting with both anti-Americanism and Euro-scepticism.

"If we can't take this lot apart in the next few years, we shouldn't be in the business of politics at all," he said.

I may hate the bugger for what he did in Iraq, for what his henchmen did to David Kelly, and for all the years of media-manipulation and spin. But you can't help but admire a winner.