The man with the plan

HE is supposed to be a prime minister whose days in Number Ten are numbered, a politician leaking power to his already anointed successor. Having chosen last year's conference to announce he would not fight another election, all the talk this year is of when he will go.

But Tony Blair's speech to the Labour conference yesterday was not the speech of a lame duck, of a man serving out his time before an orderly handing over of the reins. Rather than being the address of a man in the twilight of his career, it was of a man who had just taken office. If Gordon Brown on Monday sounded like a prime minister in waiting, then Mr Blair on Tuesday was a prime minister who wasn't going anywhere.

While the tone of last year's address to conference was of humility, of learning lessons and listening more, yesterday it was one of defiance, of what has been accomplished, and, more importantly, what lies ahead.

It may have been shorn of the dramatic gestures of many of his other set-piece occasions, which brought out the Prime Minister's more thespian tendencies, but it was a speech heavy on policy, on initiatives to come and work still to be done.

There was a promise to publish plans for pension reform, one of the looming headaches which could have been kicked into the long grass, as well as to get more people off incapacity benefit. There was a pledge to open up a new frontier of the welfare state, introducing affordable child care for everyone who needs it.

Nor was there any attempt to shy away from controversy. A greater use of civil nuclear power was placed firmly on the agenda, as was an extension of road pricing and an overhaul of the criminal justice system - all areas where the Prime Minister can expect much of the opposition to come from within the Labour Party.

RIGHT from the decision to abolish Labour's cherished Clause Four while still in opposition, this has been a leader prepared to take on his own party, and with the firepower to win, and yesterday he signalled his willingness to take them on again. "I'll tell you frankly", was the message again and again, a phrase running through his speech. This was a leader determined to keep taking up the challenge, not a man prepared to go quietly.

Indeed, if he had any regrets, they were that he had not gone far enough. "Every time I have introduced a reform, I wish in retrospect I had gone further," he told the conference. This was not the sound of a man reluctant to further antagonise the vested interests he sees as standing in the way of reform of public services, the teachers who dislike city academies, the doctors who object to internal markets.

And if ever there was a need to demonstrate his determination to see his reforms through, it was there in the passage on the subject which became his mantra all those years ago when he was still Leader of the Opposition. "Education, education, education" may have turned from a catchy soundbite into a stick with which to beat the Prime Minister whenever policies fail, but Mr Blair was not giving it up so easily.

"If there is one thing, above all, that motivates me, it is to redeem the pledge that I made to give the chance of a first class education not only for Britain's elite, but for all Britain's children," he said.

But as well as the enemy within, Mr Blair trained his fire on the opposition without, emphasising his control over the middle ground. As the Tories still drift rudderless, it was the LibDems who drew much of his scorn. In a clear appeal to the social democrats who had deserted Labour in May this year, and who need to be brought back into the fold, he derided the LibDems as "a party of protest, never a party of government", street-fighters who were "utterly unserious" when it came to power at a national level. "Never over-estimate the Tories, never under-estimate the LibDems," he said.

With a third election victory under his belt, he could also afford a jibe at the two European leaders who have done most to prevent Britain taking the leading role in the EU which Mr Blair believes is its destiny, and who are mired in troubles of their own.

While Jacques Chirac is still reeling from the loss of authority caused by the French rejection of the EU constitution, and Gerhard Shroeder is bartering for his political future after the indecisive German elections, the Prime Minister could indulge his schadenfreude. "Not for us the malaise of France or the angst of Germany," he said.

But defiant as his speech may have been, a demonstration that even after eight years in power he still has the energy and the ideas to govern, hanging over it was the elephant in the room, the over-riding but unmentionable subject: when will he make way for his Chancellor? In a speech which ranged from the Olympics to anti-social behaviour, the one thing he didn't mention was when Gordon Brown could expect to take over.

Instead, it was left to his wife Cherie to drop a not very subtle hint at a book signing before the speech, when she said in response to a question about life after Downing Street: "Darling, that is a long way in the future. It is too far ahead for me to even think about."

Although the Prime Minister's announcement of his intention to step down is increasingly looking like a mistake, ensuring attention is focused on personalities and allowing his Government's achievements to be overshadowed, he appears determined to resist the pressure to go quickly, at least for now.

But just as Mr Brown cannot go on making prime minister in waiting speeches every year, so Mr Blair cannot keep setting out a full programme of what he wants to do and expect his listeners to think he will be able to do it. At some point, he will have to acknowledge that his days in power are running out, and that he can say what he wants but there will be no guarantee anyone is listening.

ALREADY, knowing that the Prime Minister's most important power - the power of patronage - will soon be in Mr Brown's hands, Cabinet ministers are queuing up to hail the Chancellor as the successor. Mr Blair may still be in control of when the hand-over will be, but every day brings it closer, until one day it will be the only card he holds.

But that could still be some way in the future. He could have another four party conferences as Prime Minister, and he is determined to show that he is in charge, that he has the vitality and appetite for power, and that he has much still to do and he wants to be around to do it. At least for now.

And if anyone thought they would be better off without him, he had a message for them at the end of his speech. Successful nations, he said, were built not by dreamers, but by change-makers. "That is what we have been, change-makers," he said, "and that is what we must stay."

As an argument for why he should stay in office, it may have been inelegant but it was defiant. It's easy to read his meaning not as "we", the party, who have been change-makers, but "I", Tony Blair. I have transformed the party, he seemed to be saying. I have won an historic three full terms. Don't think I'm going just yet.