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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Blair seeks to focus on policies | Blair seeks to focus on policies |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| Tony Blair has said Labour must focus on the public's concerns - rather than continue the in-fighting which had led the party "to go AWOL" in recent weeks. | Tony Blair has said Labour must focus on the public's concerns - rather than continue the in-fighting which had led the party "to go AWOL" in recent weeks. |
| On BBC One's Sunday AM he refused to comment on who might succeed him when he steps down in the next year. | On BBC One's Sunday AM he refused to comment on who might succeed him when he steps down in the next year. |
| The leadership question "will deal with itself in due course", the PM said. | The leadership question "will deal with itself in due course", the PM said. |
| He said Labour's conference this week in Manchester should concentrate on the issues - such as immigration and terror - that the public worried about. | He said Labour's conference this week in Manchester should concentrate on the issues - such as immigration and terror - that the public worried about. |
| Mr Blair said he did not want to "play the game" as he was asked repeatedly to comment on issues to do with who might replace him. | Mr Blair said he did not want to "play the game" as he was asked repeatedly to comment on issues to do with who might replace him. |
| I don't resile from anything I've said before. But this week I am talking to the public about the public's concerns Tony Blair | I don't resile from anything I've said before. But this week I am talking to the public about the public's concerns Tony Blair |
| Amongst the questions was whether a News of the World report saying he was not going to back Gordon Brown, was correct, and whether he still thought that Mr Brown would make a "brilliant prime minister". | Amongst the questions was whether a News of the World report saying he was not going to back Gordon Brown, was correct, and whether he still thought that Mr Brown would make a "brilliant prime minister". |
| Mr Blair said - in response to the questions - that he was not going to "resile" (draw back) from anything he had said before about the chancellor and said theirs had been a "remarkably successful" partnership "for the party and the country". | |
| In-fighting | |
| He said: "Let me just make one thing clear - Gordon has been a fantastic chancellor, he's been a great servant of the country and the party. | He said: "Let me just make one thing clear - Gordon has been a fantastic chancellor, he's been a great servant of the country and the party. |
| "I don't resile from anything I've said before. But this week I am talking to the public about the public's concerns. | "I don't resile from anything I've said before. But this week I am talking to the public about the public's concerns. |
| "And that's the agreement we made at Cabinet, and that's what we are going to do. And both of us realise - and we were talking about this yesterday - that the most important thing is that this week we set out an agenda for the future." | "And that's the agreement we made at Cabinet, and that's what we are going to do. And both of us realise - and we were talking about this yesterday - that the most important thing is that this week we set out an agenda for the future." |
| Mr Blair said earlier this month that this would be his last annual Labour conference as leader - an announcement which came during a period of in-fighting over his departure date. | |
| His long time colleague, Chancellor Gordon Brown, is the favourite to succeed Mr Blair, but there have been tensions after Mr Brown's supporters were blamed for trying to force Mr Blair out earlier than he might have planned. | |
| The run-up to conference has seen widespread jockeying for position by Cabinet ministers who might either run against Mr Brown or who might want to run to replace John Prescott as deputy prime minister. | |
| 'Public angry' | |
| Mr Blair warned that Labour could lose the next election if it did not concentrate on the issues the public were worried about, and put forward policies to deal with them. | |
| He said: "The danger for us is very, very simple. This is the problem with the last few weeks. | |
| "For the first time since I became leader, the Labour Party went AWOL (absent without leave) from the British public, it looked in on itself, it started all the infighting and the rest of it. | |
| "The public out there are angry about that. They don't want to see their Government do that. They want us to govern. | |
| "The best thing for anybody who has the interests of the Labour Party at heart this week is to concentrate on that forward agenda." | |
| Mr Blair said he was concentrating on preparing for his big speech on Tuesday - and on running the country. | |
| "I am still doing the job myself. There will come a later time when I will answer all these questions fully and in detail," he said. | |
| As he sought to focus on policy, he told Sunday AM that immigration, terrorism and law and order would form the centrepiece of this autumn's Queen's Speech. |