SCARE BLAIR

[dArKeR]

TONY Blair last night stepped back from a show of defiance to trade union leaders by toning down a controversial speech.

The move left political analysts perplexed, with many asking why he did it, amid confusion over Labour's relationship with the unions.

The PM planned to tell unions the idea of a left wing Labour government as an alternative to a moderate government was a "delusion".

He also dropped a warning that blocking public sector reforms would be as big a mistake as opposing council house sales in the 70s.

Just an hour earlier, Mr BlairÕs new communications team assured reporters both remarks would be in his speech at the private TUC annual dinner in Brighton's Grand Hotel.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/content_objectid=13390380_method=full_siteid=50143_headline=-SCARE%2DBLAIR%2D-name_page.html

The handlers are in a state of denial. Same as Junior's handlers.

[emad]

1. I think this is the same Grand Hotel that the IRA blew up

at the Tory party conference in '84. Let's hope Poodle isn't superstitious - his Good Friday Peace Agreement's gone down the toilet pan, an IRA supergrass is suing everyone left right and centre for outing him as the double agent 'Stakeknife' that blabbed on UK military units colluding with terrorists to shoot civilians, and his former Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson can't sell his bijou feng-shui'd west London bolt hole because he insists prospective house hunters are first cleared by the Special Branch before they so much as peek under the doormat.....he's even dropped the price by £50k but still no punters....
Still, Poodle retains that slightly confident botox smirk that says "mass deception of the US and UK public? No problem!", comfy in the knowledge that if things start to get a bit sticky, he can always rely on a tabloids' centre spread of Cherie having her butt massaged by lifestyle guru Carole Caplin, whose snakeoil ex boyfriend got the PM and Cherie such a lovely cash discount for a couple of condos in Bristol for Junior......PUKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[T_i_B]

2. Unions attack Blair's twisted ideology

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3095644.stm

Tony Blair's public sector reforms are based on a "twisted ideology" which promotes the private sector but demoralises staff morale, a leading trade unionist has said.

Unison boss Dave Prentis - who represents many public sector workers - also suggested that the government's foundation hospitals should be renamed "private hospitals".

In his speech, Mr Prentis said: "The government talks of modernisation, reform, markets - what they really mean is more competition, more fragmentation, more privatisation." He added: "I'm incredulous at the efforts of some in government to focus not on what is being achieved, not on what is being delivered, but on a twisted ideology that promotes private sector delivery, that denigrates and demoralises staff."

Mr Prentis warned delegates about creeping privatisation and said that plans for foundation hospitals will not improve the health service but create a two-tier system. "Creating choice for the few but mediocrity for the rest," he said.

T&G boss Sir Bill Morris told delegates that the NHS was the "line in the sand, our last line of defence for public services". "Foundation hospitals are not just a step to privatisation, they will be a dagger in the heart of the NHS - that's why we oppose them," said Sir Bill.