NORTHERN Ireland has felt the smack of firm government. Until yesterday, people there had only the media to convey the strong sense of change wrought by Mr Blair's first two weeks in power.
Suddenly, they could see it in action. And damned impressive it was.
The British Prime Minister had promised the Northern question would command the same priority from his government as from its predecessor. Here he was proving true to his word, delivering a speech offering contract and commitment he began preparing while still in opposition.
Perhaps the first, most striking thing was the speed with which Mr Blair had made the transition. The second, was the sense of his authority - and his sense of his authority - as it leapt from the script.
In London last week, the Taoiseach had enthused about the opportunities open to the new British government, secure in its Commons majority and its five year mandate. After yesterday, some Dublin officials may reflect that Mr Bruton perhaps over played that one just a bit.
For if Mr Blair has bought the idea that his government's very newness creates a period of opportunity, he made it dear he intends to set the agenda, and expects others - the Irish Government included - to respond.
He even took to defining Dublin's position as he explained "the key principle" of consent. Landing his most direct hit on the republican movement, the Prime Minister said: "None of us in this hall, even the youngest, is likely to see Northern Ireland as anything but a part of the United Kingdom. That is the reality, because the consent principle is now almost universally accepted".
It is not long since Sinn Fein, by way of a "concession", revised its timetable for British withdrawal - accepting it might take seven or eight years, rather than the lifetime of a parliament, to accomplish.
Even more recently, Mr Gerry Adams chided Mr Albert Reynolds for his pessimistic suggestion that a united Ireland might take 20 years or more. "Not in my lifetime, or yours" was Mr Blair's message.
Dublin can hardly complain about this very public rehearsal of its actual position. But it will have been discomfited by the warmth of Mr Blair's pro Union rhetoric, and the linkage he made between Labour's plans for institutional change in England, Scotland and Wales (another echo of Mr Bruton last week) and his approach in Northern Ireland. And there will plainly be irritation at his suggestion that the removal of Articles 2 and 3 would be "a helpful confidence building step" in advance of a settlement.
Mr David Trimble purred contentedly on the BBC while Mr Blair delivered his speech. Indeed, he was moved to suggest one passage could have been lifted directly from the Ulster Unionist manifesto. As Mr Blair declared: "I want to see a Union which reflects and accommodates diversity," one could see his point.
Mr Trimble should not crow too loud, or too soon. True, after yesterday, the IRA and Sinn Fein seem more tightly squeezed between the proverbial rock and hard place. But the reality is that Mr Blair could not have more brutally explained that a partitionist settlement is the only conceivable product of the talks process. He could hardly have done more to assure the majority in the North that the Union is safe in his hands.
However, Mr Blair also made it clear that it will be a very different Union. And it will not be defined by the narrow limits of the UUP agenda. He did not as Dublin would have wished define the Joint Framework Documents as the shared understanding of the two governments about the likely parameters of a settlement capable of commanding widespread acceptance. He nonetheless made it clear those documents are the basis for the future negotiation.
On one reading, Mr Blair's comments about future crossborder relationships might be seen to fortify the unionist veto: "If such arrangements were really threatening to unionists, we would not negotiate them." But he intends to make that judgment. And he foresees "practical and institutional" crossborder links which "will be significant not only on the ground, but also politically for the nationalist community".
Most crucially of all, Mr Blair seems determined that the whole minority community in the North should be included in the process of negotiation. In what one unionist hardliner last night called "the Blair government's first Uturn" the Prime Minister has sanctioned, in clearly defined circumstances, talks between government officials and Sinn Fein to explain his position and ascertain theirs.
As an indication of the way in which he intends to do business, this is perhaps the most important. For if the official door had remained closed, who of the unionists especially - would not have suspected some rediscovery of the back door route? At a stroke, Mr Blair has defused fears of secret dealings and spelt out the choices facing republicans wit the utmost clarity.
The choice is theirs to make. But Dublin will now be pressing Mr Blair to make explicit what seems implicit from his words yesterday - that there will be no needless delay in measuring the seriousness of any resumed ceasefire, and that the IRA won't declare a ceasefire only to find Sinn Fein admitted to another decommissioning conference.
As ever, the devil will prove in the detail. If Sinn Fein is not aboard, will Mr John Hume allow the settlement train to leave the station? Given their "triple lock" guarantee, what happens if the unionists immobilise the talks process? But these are questions for another time. Mr Blair has promised to bring fresh energy and vitality to the search for a settlement, and set his face sternly against the "counsel of despair which says a solution is impossible. For this time, Mr Blair permits us to hope!