AND FINALLY, in the full glare of the camera lights, Tony spoke the oracle and the New Labour manifesto was revealed.
Caricatured by the Tories as the "road to ruin", socialists might see it as more "the road to nowhere". It says nothing about ending poverty, nothing about full-employment, nothing about scrapping Britain's expensive and totally unnecessary nuclear deterrent. No wonder the Conservatives are so desperate to ridicule Blair and New Labour.
The manifesto makes it crystal clear just how far Labour has gone in hijacking the Tory agenda and on some issues going even further. The huge raft of anti-union legislation will remain in place. Party policy on crime scapegoats young people.
Even where hopes are raised the pledges are mainly about glitz nor substance. NHS red tape will be cut but Trusts will stay. Pensions wont rise but pensioners are promised "better value for money' There will be a minimum wage but with the bosses playing a big part in the new "independent" Low Pay commission, it will be based on what they say they can afford.
Such PR sucesses - together with deep hatred of the Tories - may be enough to get Blair elected. But it wont reverse the damage done over the last decade and more.
Real socialists in the Labour Party must continue to fight for real socialist policies.