Don’t take 30 years of liberalisation, beginning under Mrs Thatcher, and say this is what caused the financial crisis.

Instead of seeking to change laws and regulations, Mr Blair says that politicians must examine cultural norms. “We must regain the basic values of what society is about,” he says. “We’re not against wealth, but we are in favour of social responsibility.”

RT: "Is it true you were shaking so many IOC delegates' hands in Singapore you were even at it in the gents?"
TB: "Er, well.....there was a moment in Singapore, when I was standing at the gents and this guy - blond-haired bloke - was standing next to me having a pee, so I struck up a conversation because I simply assumed that he would be British and would want to talk to me about the bid.[?!] So I started asking him how he enjoyed Singapore and whether he found it an exciting place to be, and he actually turned to me and asked, in a tone of voice that plainly meant that he hadn't the faintest idea who I was, "Why are you asking me all of these questions?" And I suddenly realised that he thought I was trying to pick him up!"

Mr Blair challenges those calls, and says: “We mustn’t go back to the State running everything.”

I never realised the state used to run enverything. Neither do I remember the boss of British Leyland wanting to introduce indefinate detention without trial.

Are Labour at the point where they loathe Blair as much as the Tory right did Heath?

Oh so we have been wrong then. Nothing to do with bankers taking risks they really shouldn't have?

Tony Blair has set up his own stock market trading desk at his Mayfair headquarters.

His investment unit, headed by a former senior banker at Barclays, reflects the former prime minister’s growing business empire, worth tens of millions of pounds.

Five members of his staff are registered with the Financial Services Authority and trading screens have been installed at Mr Blair’s offices, in Grosvenor Square in central London.

Mr Blair has established a complex web of companies, designed, according to accountants, to hide just how much money he makes and from where his money comes.

Might explain why Blair's so keen to stick up for the banks. Well, that and the fat salary he gets from JP Morgan.

BATTLE HYMN OF THE NEW SOCIALIST PARTY
(Leon Rosselson)

The cloth cap and the working class, as images are dated.
For we are Labour's avante-garde, and we were educated.
By tax adjustments we have planned to institute the Promised Land
And just to show we're still sincere, we sing The Red Flag once a year.

Firm principles and policies are open to objections;
And a streamlined party image is the way to win elections.
So raise the umbrella high, the bowler hat, the college tie
We'll stand united, raise a cheer. And sing The Red Flag once a year.

It's one step forward, one step back. Our dance is devilish daring
A leftward shuffle, a rightward tack, then pause to take our bearings.
We'll reform the country bit by bit, so nobody will notice it
Then ever after, never fear, we'll sing The Red Flag once a year.

We will not cease from mental fight till every wrong is righted,
And all men are equal quite, and all our leaders knighted.
For we are sure if we persist to make the New Year's Honours list.
Then every loyal labour peer will sing The Red Flag once a Year.

So vote for us, and not for them, we're just as true to NATO,
And we'll be calm and British when we steer the ship of state-O.
We'll stand as firm as them *
To show we're patriotic gentlemen *
Though man to man shall brothers be, deterence is our policy.
So raise the mushroom cloud on high, within their shades we'll live and die.
Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer, we'll sing The Red Flag once a year.

* these two lines sung to tune of "send her victorious, happy and
glorious" from God Save the King.

“We must regain the basic values of what society is about,” he says. “We’re not against wealth, but we are in favour of social responsibility.

The loathing of Tony Blair by the Left is not helped by his rising stock elsewhere. To those of us who voted for both Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair, he has not disappointed.