Conference Watch: Blair promises "I’ll be with you… always"
Wishing his party well on the occasion of his last conference, Prime Minister Tony Blair appeared alongside previous leaders Neil Kinnock and Michael Foot and promised the party his continued support in the future. There can be no doubt that his parting words will forever echo in the minds of all who heard him pledge that ‘I’m always with you’. Certainly, not half an hour later, John Prescott vowed that he heard the PM’s words come back to him as he was negotiating his Jag through the exhaust port area of Manchester’s crowded inner city. ‘I turned off the sat nav,’ said a proud Prescott, ‘and I got myself through it by hand.’
Even to seasoned reporters, the atmosphere in the conference hall was something special as the party celebrated the fall of the old Empire. The Labour Ewoks then played drums using the helmets of vanquished police officers called in to investigate the appointment of Sith Lords. To some, the spectral figures of the old leaders was a reminder of the dangers of allowing the party to slip too far towards the left. For others, it was a reminder that the party should not stray too far into the centre. But for most, it was a reminder that the party should stop dabbling with the dark side and choose a different leader other than the remaining believer in the Sith ways, Darth Brown.
