Blair steadies Labour ship

Blair Dismisses August Rows as 'Summer Froth'

"This is a 10,000 metre race, not a 100 metre sprint," he said, calling on his party to keep their eyes on Labour's long term goals.

The Government must not be knocked off course by the "mild kicking" it had received over its summer problems, insisted Tony Blair.

Labour must concentrate on delivering its election promises on education, health, the economy, jobs, crime and Europe, he said.

But he also warned his party that its August difficulties had come as a "timely reminder", and renewed his warning that Labour must not be complacent.

"Winning the election was not the end. It was merely a staging post on a bigger journey. The destination is a Britain strong, confident and modern, renewed by a Labour party - New Labour - up to the task before it," he told party members in Darlington.

Back Party Reform, Urges Blair

Reform of party conference

Mr Blair also urged activists to back the package of internal party reforms outlined in the document Partnership in Power, drawn up by the leadership, which goes to the vote at Labour's annual conference in Brighton in October.

He insisted the reforms would help end tension between party activists and MPs, make the ruling National Executive Committee more representative and modernise the party's "archaic" policy-making process to increase involvement of the grassroots.

But the leadership is heading for a major showdown with rank-and-file members, left-wing MPs and some trade unions at the annual conference. Most of the 102 motions submitted to the conference on the issue raise objections to the document.

Opponents fear the reforms would water down the role of the unions and of ordinary party members, stifle democracy, sideline the left and make the party more presidential.

Trade union leaders are also complaining that the reforms would diminish their influence on the NEC and new policy forums.

Blair Plays Down Controversies

Blair rallies his supporters

Mr Blair returned from his three-week holiday in France and Italy earlier this week to find his Government's honeymoon well and truly over.

While he had relaxed in the sun with his family, a series of rows had exploded back home over university tuition fees, the Millennium Dome, the handling of the Montserrat volcano crisis and the in-fighting and corruption allegations after the suicide of Labour's Paisley South MP Gordon McMaster.

But Mr Blair played down the string of controversies which hit his Government in his absence.

"As ever, August has brought its share of problems for the Labour party. Much of it has little to do with the big picture. A lot of it is summer froth," he said.

"In part, there is an almost visceral desire to concentrate on every next day's news as if we were still fighting an election," urged Mr Blair. "But the tempo, ours and the media's, should change. This is a 10,000 metre race, not a 100 metre sprint. But froth or not, we have had a timely reminder. Take nothing for granted."

In the run-up to the general election, Mr Blair constantly berated his party not to be complacent and in his speech he returned to the theme.

"Before the election, what did I say: the greatest danger is complacency. Now, after the election, what is the greatest danger: again, complacency," he said.

Mr Blair warned that "New Britain" had not yet been achieved, and neither, fully, had New Labour.

"There is much to do. That is why I say: no complacency, no arrogant assumption that winning the election was all that mattered, no delusions about how easy it all is," he said.

"It requires of us, as the New Labour Government, an extraordinary degree of drive, discipline and determination," stressed Mr Blair.