Blair: We must hold firm
The embattled prime minister, Tony Blair, has today issued a rallying call at a conference to party activists, urging them to “face up to the tough challenges” of the future.
He told the National Policy Forum (NPF) that it was more important than ever before to stand firmly in belief of the party’s policies that had led him to three successive terms as prime minister.
Mr Blair’s standing as premier and party leader took another dip on Friday when Labour was pushed into fourth spot behind Ukip in the Bromley and Chislehurst by-election and failed to regain the party’s Welsh heartland of Blaenau Gwent, once represented in the House of Commons by party giants Nye Bevan and Michael Foot.
But he responded today by attempting to instil a siege mentality in his own supporters.
Speaking at the Docklands conference centre, east London, the prime minister said: “This is the time to hold firm, to make the right decisions for the country, no matter how difficult; to face up to the tough challenges, no matter how daunting.
“To renew, not by returning to the past, but by showing we have the drive, determination and vision to make the future work, not for a few but for all.”
Mr Blair asserted that the Labour party’s success in three consecutive general elections was proof enough that the policy it was grounded upon had lived up to public expectations.
“Why have we won three terms? Because at the core of our project to govern has been an idea completely in tune with the modern age in which we live,” he explained.
“It is the union of individual aspiration and social compassion, the belief that prosperity is not contrary to a society that is just and opens up opportunity to all, but dependent on it.”
The independent politician Dai Davies won Blaenau Gwent in Thursday’s by-election, following in the footsteps of fellow independent Peter Law,a former Labour member, who overturned a 19,000 Labour majority at the last general election.
The Conservatives maintained their seat of Bromley and Chislehurst, but only after seeing their 13,342 majority vastly reduced by the Liberal Democrats.
