Britain has a new Prime Minister, a new direction, a....or have we heard it all before?

Today Gordon Brown became the formal leader of the Labour Party, endorsed at a special conference in Manchester by a toothy grinned and sincere sounding Tony Blair. 'My friend for 20 years' oozed Blair to a man with whom he has been at daggers drawn for the majority of his Premiership, too scared of the fall-out to sack Brown from his job as the most powerful Chancellor of the Exchequer in modern British politics.



But Blair soon exited the stage and it was time for the new leader, who becomes Prime Minister formally on Wednesday, to hold centre stage. He talked about a new direction, a return to party politics, to a situation where Government took notice of Parliament and where Parliament heard the voice of the people. He talked about policy forums in Constituencies all across the country actually meaning something. He talked about a new degree of accountability to the British people and how a wave of change would sweep the nation under his leadership.

After 20 minutes of this my head was spinning. I was grinning wildly and reaching for the telephone in a Pavlovian dog reflex to phone Labour's Membership dept and rejoin. Everything I ever wanted - accountability, reference to the electorate, humility in the face of the public wish. Quick how soon can I sign u...ah now wait a minute, haven't I heard all this wind of change, you can trust me, I'll be more accountable, new Britain stuff somewhere before? Ah yes, Anthony Charles Lynton Blair I do believe said something similar back in 1994 and what happened to him? He became the biggest control freak since Thatcher and Parliament and his cabinet were treated as an afterthought.

Oh well it was a nice speech while it lasted. Put the pen away and go back to sleep!!