Tony Blair has made his last leader's speech to the Labour party conference. It was a tour de force, prompting some commentators to ask whether Labour voters will now realise what they are about to lose.
It's unlikely that Gordon Brown - or any other likely candidate for leader - could have delivered such a barnstorming performance. Blair's joke that there was no chance that Cherie would run off with the bloke next door was brilliant: defusing the tension about his wife's remarks with a genuinely funny reposte.
But conference speeches rarely have an impact beyond the hall, with rare exceptions: Kinnock's attack on Militant in 1985, Blair's ambush of Clause 4 in 1994. In recent years, Blair's high octane conference performances have been like a boozy night out, giving a brief high followed by the inevitable 'morning after the night before'. Whatever happened to the promises to solve Africa's problems or bring peace to the Middle East?
Yesterday's bravura show had an echo of Margaret Thatcher's amazing display at Prime Minister's Questions after her ousting in 1990. No-one doubted she was a class act, but the display couldn't disguise the fact her day had passed. Tony Blair has been the showman PM - probably the best actor-premier since Harold Macmillan. The curtain is about to fall. There will be no encore.
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