Is this the endorsement?
- 1 May 07, 02:04 PM
"Please don't kick me. I'm going soon anyway. Oh, and by the way, a Scot's coming next - probably - and he'll be great."
That's a paraphrase of . It can hardly be what he dreamt of saying on this historic day - the tenth anniversary of his election as prime minister. It is, though, what his colleagues have pleaded with him to say in a last ditch effort to persuade voters - Scots in particular - to come back to Labour.
So is this the oft-talked of and much sought after "endorsement" of Gordon Brown? This may seem a bizarre question but different people close to Tony Blair answer it in different ways.
My answer is "yes, but then again no."
Yes, because Tony Blair has now predicted that Brown will follow him at Number Ten and will be "a great PM."
No because he has not gone so far as to say he'll vote for Brown - I'm told he's reserving that until "the proper time and place," after he announces his resignation next week. More importantly Tony Blair has only finally uttered this "endorsement" of sorts once it was clear that there would be no significant challenge to the chancellor - and once he was staring into the electoral abyss.
It's not just what you say that counts in politics - but how and when you say it.
