Britain: British prime minister Tony Blair has warned the Labour Party against conceding the centre ground of politics to a rejuvenated Conservative Party led by David Cameron.
In his final press conference of a year marked by his historic third election victory, Mr Blair said New Labour should be "proud" of its achievements and "confident" that it continued setting the agenda.
While obviously still taking time to form his assessment of the new Tory leader, Mr Blair said he saw "no big idea" yet forthcoming from the Conservatives, other than "to try and become more like New Labour". While acknowledging "tough times" ahead for his domestic reform agenda for education, welfare and pensions, Mr Blair said it would be "very odd" for Labour to vacate the ground on which it had won three elections.
Mr Blair side-stepped repeated questions about when he might stand down in favour of Chancellor Gordon Brown, insisting he was more confident than ever that he had the right policies for the long term future of Britain.
"It is always going to be tough, it always is when you are doing difficult things," said the prime minister.
But he declared: "I feel very confident. In fact, I've never felt more confident about the fact that we are doing the right thing for the long-term future of our country. Step by step, we are implementing the agenda that the public wants to see, that we were elected on in May, and that is necessary to improve and modernise this country for the 21st century."
Mr Blair reiterated Mr Brown's support for the domestic reform agenda, saying: "It's not an agenda that could possibly be done without the full support of the Treasury." However, he noticeably made no such claim on Mr Brown's support when asked about persistent reports that the chancellor is furious over last weekend's EU budget deal, which the Tories say will eventually be costing £1.9 billion in lost British "rebate".
Mr Blair was also obliged to play-down a public attack on the government's plans for "independent" state schools by deputy prime minister John Prescott, and to suggest Mr Prescott had been joking when he appeared to relish a Labour return to "class war" against "the Etonian mafia" now running the Tory party.
In voicing his fear that government reforms could lead to "a two-tier, first-class/second-class" education system, Mr Blair said Mr Prescott had been "articulating concerns that people have" and which it was his job as prime minister to answer.
Asked if he feared Labour might return to its class war instincts once he had departed office, Mr Blair said he saw no possibility the party "would go back to that". However, in unintended tribute to Mr Cameron's early impact, Mr Blair said Labour "needs to be careful" in the developing debate about the role of the state, and to assure people they favoured "an enabling government" behind people "but not on top of them".
In a separate development last night The Liberal magazine launched a petition urging Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy to stand down.