Blair Promises Can-Do Govt

Prime Minister Tony Blair, warning that the weight of history was on Labours shoulders after its landslide election victory, promised on Wednesday a can-do government that was determined to carry out its promises.

Blair said Labour was already beginning to make a difference within days of taking office after 18 years of Conservative rule, improving relations with the European Union and handing over control of interest rates to the nations central bank, the Bank of England. These are great times, Blair told a record 418 Labour MPs on the opening day of the new parliament. We have the chance to do something quite special, possibly even quite spectacular, for the future of our country.

 

But, issuing a stern warning, Blair said voters who had turned to Labour in their millions could just as easily eject the party in five years time if they felt their trust had been betrayed.

We are not the masters. The people are the masters. We are the peoples servants. Forget that and the people will soon show that what the electorate gives, the electorate can take away, he said.

Like a school headmaster addressing freshly scrubbed pupils on the first day of term, Blair told his MPs they were ambassadors for a party determined to make a new start after a Conservative government whose last months were tarnished by allegations of financial and sexual sleaze. You are not here to enjoy the trappings of power but to do a job and to uphold the highest standards in public life, Blair said.

Mindful that past Labour prime ministers have often found themselves squabbling with the parliamentary party, Blair pointed to the rout of the divided Conservatives in last Thursdays election to warn his MPs against the dangers of indiscipline.

Look at the Tory party. Pause. Reflect. Then vow never to let us emulate them. Day after day, when in government they had MPs out there, behaving with indiscipline and thoughtlessness that was reminiscent of us in the early 1980s. Where are they now, those great rebels?...

Of course, speak your minds. But realise why you are here: you are here because of the Labour party under which you fought.

Blair was speaking after two more former Conservative ministers, William Hague and Stephen Dorrell, joined the race to succeed former prime minister John Major, who announced his intention to quit hours after Labours victory.

There are now six contenders. Hague, the former Welsh secretary, at 36 the youngest of them, said: I think the Conservative party needs a fresh start after a very heavy election defeat and I think I am best placed to provide it.

Dorrell, who used to be health secretary, said he wanted to rethink the policy position of the Conservative Party so we address the concerns of the voters directly.

The Conservative leadership election will not be held for several weeks. Until then Major, in a role reversal after 6-1/2 years as prime minister, will remain the opposition leader, challenging Blair in the House of Commons.

Members of parliament, which includes a record number of 120 women, are due to start swearing in later on Wednesday before next Wednesdays speech outlining Labours legislative programme.