Rows between trade unions and the Labour leadership at the annual TUC conference are as much a fixture of the political calendar as the conference itself, and political journalists are already salivating at the prospect of clashes between ministers and the new generation of left-wing trade union leaders.
Yet long after the last delegate has struggled home from Blackpool, and the promised rows over Iraq and the public services have faded from the headlines, the Prime Minister will still face a problem with the trade unions: the dearth of pro-single-currency figures, following Sir Ken Jackson's failure to be re-elected as general secretary of the AEEU section of the giant Amicus union.
Jackson had played a key role in the Prime Minister's strategy of using outsiders to edge closer to a euro referendum. Blair remains convinced that it would be better for pro-Europeans on both sides of industry to make the running, enabling him to fall in behind them, citing their support as the key reason for British entry.
In that context, Jackson's position as leader of a major union representing hundreds of thousands of workers in manufacturing industry has been crucial. His regular warnings that uncertainty over the euro was driving away inward investment have provided the Prime Minister with useful economic "covering fire" for a poll sooner rather than later. Moreover, they were useful in countering the more cautious noises emanating from figures such as Bill Morris, general secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union.
All that is set to change. Jackson's replacement at the helm of AEEU-Amicus, the left-winger Derek Simpson, claims to be euro-agnostic, and although union insiders insist that his hands will be tied by the union's long-standing pro-euro policy, Simpson is unlikely to continue with his predecessor's high-profile advocacy of early British entry.
This robs Tony Blair of dependable pro-euro allies to push the case for an early poll. Among the other big union leaders, Dave Prentis, the Unison general secretary, describes himself as "very euro-sceptical"; Tony Woodley, the T&G's new deputy general secretary, has warned that "the euro has economic problems which have not yet been addressed".
Besides, the pro-euro general secretary of the TUC, John Monks, is off to Europe next year, and while his likely successor, Brendan Barber, shares Monks's pro-euro instincts, he is likely to need some time to establish himself and raise his profile.
Paradoxically, this leaves Downing Street's least favourite union boss, John Edmonds of the GMB, as the only unequivocally pro-euro trade union leader.
The decision of when to call the referendum is one of the most complex issues that Tony Blair will ever face, and the stance taken by the major trade unions is just one factor in that equation. But he would surely baulk at the prospect of fighting an early referendum campaign with major figures in the trade union movement backing the No vote, giving it much-needed financial and organisational support, not to mention invaluable cross-party credibility.
Most of the new generation of trade union militants fear that euro membership would place curbs on future spending plans, not to mention the possible effects on public spending of a dash for early entry. An unequivocal guarantee from the Chancellor that membership of the euro would not hit public spending, coupled with a ringing endorsement of the European Central Bank, would bring some of the doubters round. Blair knows this, as does the Chancellor, Gordon Brown. Yet, for the moment, as on most issues concerning the single currency, the silence from No 11 is deafening.
