There were tears at the Manchester Conference - Tony Blair, probably the most popular Labour Prime Minister ever, said goodbye to his fellows of England. He was quite emotional when he declared: "The truth is, you can't go on forever." Obviously it was not the way he wanted to let go, but issues liked supporting the war on Iraq, standing by George W Bush, are reasons good enough to force him into early retirement perhaps.
During the conference, he made no specific comments on his successor Gordon Brown, nothing in particular other than a joke about their relationship. Imagine the greatest fear for Blair is that, as soon as he stepped down, all his glorious past and performance will be forgotten in no time. And the party will quickly move on the the battle over his replacement.
This is politics, and this is the life of one politician, sad but true.
