BRITAIN: Mr Tony Blair was accused of increasing isolation from the British public yesterday, as he clashed with Mr Iain Duncan Smith about street crime and the growing rail crisis.
As the threat of industrial action spread - with RMT workers for Connex South Eastern the latest to reject a pay offer - the Tory leader joined in carefully targeted mockery of the prime minister's continuing international travels. Mr Duncan Smith told Mr Blair that in his absence his government's transport policy had "descended into farce" .
Fresh from his visit to India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, it was confirmed the prime minister will spend a week in Africa next month developing his vision of Britain as a global "force for good". While Downing Street insisted international affairs would remain at the top of Mr Blair's agenda, a torrent of domestic concerns dominated the first Prime Minister's Questions of the new year.
As one Labour backbencher pressed Mr Blair about continuing pressure on the British tourist industry, a Conservative MP, Mr Graham Brady, provoked laughter when he asked him to consider the health problems of one of his constituents "during his current visit to the United Kingdom".
While offering no criticism of Mr Blair's diplomatic activities, Mr Duncan Smith attempted to exploit growing criticism of his travels abroad, suggesting "he should stay at home and get a grip". The Tory leader coupled this with a full-frontal assault on the embattled Transport Secretary, Mr Stephen Byers, telling Mr Blair to "sack him."
Quoting figures showing massive increases in delays being experienced on three of the country's major networks, Mr Duncan Smith said Mr Byers's statement that he would remain until the next election could only mean "the chaos on the railways will go on for years and years".
Offering something less than a ringing endorsement of his transport secretary, Mr Blair said Mr Byers was there to provide "the long-term investment" needed to restore the railways after "the appalling mess left by privatisation". However, while acknowledging Labour's "shambolic inheritence" from the Tories, Mr Charles Kennedy, leader of the Liberal Democrats, challenged Mr Blair to explain why, five years into a Labour government with a three-figure majority, "transport policy is still a shambles".