I can't remember the last time I saw a prime minister give such a poor speech as Tony Blair delivered in Brighton to the TUC. It was obvious that it had been written by his staff and that he hadn't even bothered to look at it before reaching the rostrum. I almost felt sorry for dear old Roger "the Rug" Lyons, this year's TUC president, who has spent the past decade begging the PM for a place in the Lords and got nowt. He had to introduce his hero to the brothers and sisters, who were about as pleased to see Blair in Brighton as he was to be there.
The unions don't even hate Blair any more. They are completely indifferent. He is so little respected that they couldn't even be bothered to show what they really think of him and boo him off the stage. When it was all over, union bosses were asked by the assembled hacks what they made of it. They mostly lied, mumbling about what a nice place Warwick is. Apparently, they had been to a meeting there and agreed something about the Labour manifesto. The PM had said he would stick to the agreement. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Gordon Brown could give the union bosses some tips on how much agreements with Blair are worth.
The newspapers weren't much help in showing what really happened at the TUC because most of them long ago dropped their union specialists. Only Barrie Clement of the Indie and the Guardian's Kevin Maguire have a clue what's happening. Other papers rely on the lobby hacks who last year reported that Blair had read the unions the riot act at a private dinner. He hadn't. This year, coverage of the speech wasn't much better, even though he made it in public.
