The Spectator

Mr Blair’s last bow

For 12 years Mr Blair has acted as a human shield between his party and the electorate

issue 23 September 2006

In Manchester on Tuesday, Tony Blair will deliver his 13th and final speech as Labour leader to the party’s conference. Over the years, his addresses to the rank and file have been a reliable source of slogans and soundbites that have entered the political bloodstream: ‘Labour’s coming home’ (1996); ‘a thousand days to prepare for a thousand years’ (1997); ‘backbone, not backdown’ (1998); ‘the forces of conservatism’ (1999); ‘my irreducible core’ (2000); ‘the kaleidoscope has been shaken’ (2001); ‘at our best when at our boldest’ (2002); ‘I’ve not got a reverse gear’ (2003); and ‘every time I’ve ever introduced a...

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