Blair's homage to The West Wing

(Not a spoiler, but if you want to avoid anything to do with season seven, don't read on.)

Let's play spot the difference:

"Leo and I are the past. You’re the future. It’s up to you now. We’re counting on you."

(President Bartlet in The West Wing, broadcast 16th April, 2006.)

"So: it's up to you. You take my advice. You don't take it. Your choice. … You're the future now. Make the most of it."

(Tony Blair's speech to the Labour Party conference, 27th September, 2006.)

It won't get any better than this

Three weeks ago, I wrote:

Mr Blair is formidably impressive, and without doubt the most articulate, clear-sighted and instinctual politician of his generation.

Today's speech proved that: it was utterly masterful, truly mesmerising. It's what Mr Blair does best.

Which is why he should go now - he can achieve no more in that time which is left to him. Better to leave when the encomia are still ringing in your ears, than to hang around for your own wake.

Not so much, Prime Minister

Something about Gordon Brown’s speech today rang a bell with me… See if you agree. Here’s an extract from Mr Brown’s cliché-ridden opus:

So as a Party and a Government we have climbed a huge mountain. But we must now climb many more and even more challenging mountains ahead. The next ten years will be even more demanding.

And because the challenges are quite different, the programme for governing will be different. And as the tasks of government change the way we govern must change, not just new policies but a new politics too. A new politics founded on responsibilities as well as rights. And our starting point must be the concerns, the struggles and the hopes and ambitions of families in every part of our country. …

And as we listen to and seek to answer their concerns we the Labour Party do so from and must apply an enduring set of values that put the needs and concerns of the British people first.

And here’s an extract from the Yes, Prime Minister diaries, when Jim Hacker is preparing the script for his first ministerial broadcast:

… they slipped in an optimistic bit about me and the future… this is an improvement on saying negative things about the past:

We want to build a bright future for our children. We want to build a peaceful and prosperous Britain. A Britain that can hold her head high in the fellowship of nations.

I thought it was rather good. I asked them where they had got it. It turned out they’d taken it from the last Party Political by the Leader of the Opposition. We’ll have to paraphrase it.

(Yes, Prime Minister (Vol. 1), p.99)