Liam Fox: Blair 'all talk'

Political allies and opponents have given their response to Tony Blair's seventh conference address as prime minister.

Constitutional affairs secretary and close Blair ally Lord Falconer told ePolitix.com the speech had been a call for unity around a common agenda.

"What he has done is two things. One he has set out a detailed agenda for a third term and secondly he has faced the Iraq issue head on," he said.

"The response of the hall and the conference to the proposed policy rich agenda for the third term and facing Iraq head on was favourable.

"The response of the conference was, I think, that we should unite and seek a third term."

He denied that the prime minister was making himself a hostage to fortune by asking to be trusted on the basis of his promises.

"What he was saying in relation to both the 1997 and 2001 manifestos was the vast majority of deliverables have been delivered," the peer said.  "We are a party which keeps our promises."

The Cabinet minister said Blair would not duck the verdict of voters on Iraq.

"It can't be put to one side but it can be faced up to, the reasons for going to war set out with clarity and the jury can judge," he added. 

"It's not a question of putting it to one said, it should be a question of addressing it head on."

Broken promises

But the prime minister's political opponents said the speech was "all talk".

Tory chairman Liam Fox claimed that "we’ve heard it all before".

"Tony Blair is very much out of touch if he thinks the only reason people don’t trust him is Iraq.

"The real reason is because he said taxes would not rise and the have; he said no tuition fees for students and now there are.

"He said he would cut crime yet we have a record level of violent crime. He said he would control asylum and immigration but it’s out of control.

"Tony Blair is saying to us, 'trust me and having not delivered in the first two terms I will deliver in the third term', but the only thing the British people can be certain of in a third term is tax rises."

Charles Kennedy, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said the prime minister appeared to have "already forgotten that he broke his promise at the last election not to introduce tuition fees".

"The reality is that he's squandered public trust on this. And he's squandered it over his misguided war in Iraq," Kennedy added.

"The prime minister says he can't take the Liberal Democrats seriously.  It's time he did."

SNP leader Alex Salmond said the conference protests revealed the depth of the prime minister's unpopularity.

"In the last seven years Blair has existed in a prime ministerial bubble totally insulated from dissent. Now he is a prime minister at bay in Brighton, at one point even being forced to admit at one point that he was not sure where the next protest was coming from," he said.

"He can’t even deliver his conference address without being surrounded by protest with interruptions from within the security blanket of the hall.

"On the war, he has long lived a lie and his explanation and half-hearted apology on weapons of mass-destruction simply will not wash.

"He has been forced to confront the reality that there are no such weapons but even now cannot bring himself to disclose the reality of why he took this country into an illegal war."

Union response

TGWU chief Tony Woodley was critical of the prime minister's decision to focus on Iraq.

"I thought the prime minister started strongly, focusing on the important issues of the day such as pensions, more holidays for people who would not otherwise get them," he said.

"He did really well concentrating on big domestic issues but then he spent far too much time trying to justify the war in Iraq.

"As important as that is, it is clear that working men and women wanted to hear him talk about the delivery of decent pensions, pay and employment rights."

However, Amicus general secretary Derek Simpson was more upbeat about the content of the speech.

"He did the business and dealt with all the issues such as pensions, jobs and employment protection," he said.

No departure

Blair's conference speech also led bookies to lengthen the odds on an early departure from Downing Street.

William Hill extended the odds of the prime minister standing down before the election from 14/1 to 20/1.

"He certainly gave little impression that he wasn't completely committed to taking Labour to a third term of office," said Hill's spokesman Graham Sharpe.

Hills makes Blair odds-on to exceed Margaret Thatcher's record eleven and a half year stay in Number 10.