Tony Blair's speech - "a willingness to accept the burdens of leadership"

Highlights of TB's speech for me yesterday, in no particular order:

Britain is great. We don't have the "malaise of France", nor the "angst of Germany".

At the last election the British people saw through the Tories "nasty and unprincipled campaign on immigration".

Not being able to keep a straight face when talking about the Lib Dems - "utterly unserious".

"Never underestimate the Tories, never overestimate the Lib Dems".

The touching way he talked about London, and how the city had done the country proud after the terrorists struck.

His vision of how Britain will ride the wave of globalisation.

His explanation of how he saw the fight in Iraq as a "progressive cause". His acknowledgement that there were forces fighting the coalition, but the reminder that 8 1/2 million Iraqis had voted for the type of country they wanted to live in - and that was whose side Britain was on. Not for Britain "hiding at the back", nor for him following the "ruinous consequences of applause", but a Britain at the front line fighting those with an ideology "utterly alien to the future of mankind".

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I found it a relevant speech, delivered with impressive energy and confidence. I'm only a humble voter, not a member, but I don't understand why various factions of the Labour party want to usher out of office someone of this man's calibre. He is a world class statesman. A still potent force of change in this country. And when he goes we will lose him and his unique talents for good.