RAY Mallon made his debut at the Labour Party conference last night speaking at a fringe meeting about how politics could be made more attractive to young people.
Mr Mallon, who was elected as the independent mayor of Middlesbrough in May by defeating the official Labour Party candidate, praised Tony Blair whom he described as "his own man".
"He speaks with passion and sparkle," said Mr Mallon. "Politics will be moving along in this country over the next two or three years."
Mr Mallon, who has a cross-party cabinet in Middlesbrough, admitted that he is "much more of a Labour man than a Conservative or a Lib Dem".
He said his own election was an example of the declining interest in politics.
"We had only a 47 per cent turnout in what I thought was quite an exciting election," he said.
He told the meeting that politicians, and older people in general, had to get into step with youth if young people are to be attracted back to the democratic process.
He said: "Older people just see young people hanging around on a street corner with a funny haircut - they are being disengaged by older people.
"Politicians must communicate in a way that everyone understands."
But he added: "It's not just what you say, it's the way you say it. Some political figures are just downright ill-mannered."
Quest for full employment in North-East
CHANCELLOR Gordon Brown made a personal pledge last night to try to achieve full employment in poorer areas of the country such as the North-East.
At a fringe meeting organised by the Northern Regional Development Agencies, he said: "If we can achieve full employment in the North-East, North-West and Yorkshire, that is something this Government will be proud of."
He said Regional Development Agencies such as One NorthEast and Yorkshire Forward were the "third wave of regenerating the regions, not the old regional policies of the 1930s or the 1960s which tried to attract new investment from outside".
He continued: "We want to do not only that but to empower people in the regions to develop their own talents.
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