TONY BLAIR yesterday put himself at the heart of Labour's appeal to the British people in the forthcoming General Election - and the North-East at the centre of all the party has achieved since 1997.

In a deeply personal, soul-searching speech to the party's spring conference at the Sage, in Gateshead, Mr Blair admitted having lost touch with the public and promised he was now back listening to their concerns.

Coming close to comparing his relationship with the electorate to a marriage, he acknowledged how it had gone from warmth and euphoria in the early days of his leadership to irritation, raised voices and "crockery" being thrown.

He conceded that, following September 11, he had seemed to devote too much time and energy to international affairs and not enough to the domestic agenda, and that his conviction in his beliefs had sent out the message: "I know best."

But, he said: "I'm back. And it feels good."

He praised the £70m Sage as fantastic, wonderful and magnificent, and took the 2,000 delegates on a verbal tour of Tyneside's reborn riverside.

Of the Gateshead side, he said: "Four years ago - a derelict industrial land. Now one of the finest concert halls in the world."

He paid attention to the Baltic art centre before crossing over the Millennium Bridge to Newcastle's reborn Quayside.

He said: "Along that waterfront too, once a place of empty factories and ghosts of times past, the new housing, hotels and business park.

"To anyone who doubts Britain has got better since we took over from the Tories in 1997, I say: come to Gateshead, see what the people here have achieved, and then understand why we who have worked with them are so passionate about winning that historic third term, so that never again are people as talented as this neglected and left behind by an uncaring Tory government."

He also said that an encounter in his Sedgefield constituency on Friday night had given him fresh political impetus.

"Back in my own constituency, a woman came over to me, limping badly," he said.

"She explained how many months she had been waiting for a knee operation - not life-threatening, but the difference between a life worth leading and one in pain.

"I felt anger that, even with all the progress, the best we could offer at present was a six-month wait.

"Yes, better than the 18 months we inherited, but still too long for any person to wait in pain."

One of the six pledges outlined on Friday is a commitment to reduce waiting times to 18 weeks.

Introducing Mr Blair, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott gave the clearest indication yet of the date of the election.

"May 5 is the focus of the election date," said Mr Prescott, "For the county council elections, of course."

He added to laughter: "But if anything else comes along on that day, we are ready for it, are we not?"

Mr Blair was preceded by a burst of U2's uplifting song Beautiful Day. Although it struck the right chord with the delegates in the Sage music centre, the Irish supergroup thought it hit the wrong note.

A statement issued on the group's behalf said: "We are flattered they like our tune but this is not an official endorsement of the Labour Party.

"We reserve the right to fall in and out with any political party and their policies. Mind you, every piece of airplay helps."

During Mr Blair's speech, there were several passages where the audience fell into a deep, absorbed silence as he spoke about Iraq and the prominence of policies on immigration - stances that are still not popular within all the Labour Party.

"I understand why some people feel angry not just over Iraq, but many of the difficult decisions we have made," he said.

"And, as ever, a lot of it is about me.

"It's not a bad idea to think of it in terms of being like any relationship: you the British people and me, the person you chose as your Prime Minister.

"Now you, the British people, have to sit down and decide whether you want the relationship to continue."