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An enjoyable, yet slightly odd evening yesterday, ending with a sighting of Tony Blair on the streets of Manchester. I went into Manchester last night to hook up with the Bloggers4Labour crowd - thanks to B4L for setting it up. This was my first meeting with other bloggers. It’s a rather strange experience, having introduced yourself by name, to then have to give your blog pseudonym as if you’re part of some secret society. Anyway, a very cheerful and friendly bunch, with some helpful advice dispensed. I had expected to stay longer, but got a call from an old friend (an ex-SPAD) who was up for conference, so we headed to the delightful bar in the Palace Hotel over the road. The place was crawling with police – Tony was in the ballroom of the hotel attending a reception for Arab ambassadors. So we whiled away an hour or so, with the press coming and going, and got a quick chat with a member of the Number Ten communications team. All very gossipy, and nothing I’m allowed to blog about. Shame. Anyway, we leave the hotel to go our separate ways, when there’s quite a commotion and the Great Man himself comes out of the hotel and goes to his car. I’m useless with the camera on my phone but, for posterity – on the day of his last, great speech to Conference as leader – here is the back of Tony Blair’s head: It doesn’t get much better than that. I was surprised at how close we were able to get, and his exit from the hotel drew the students out of the pub opposite to give him a barracking. All very surreal for Manchester. I haven’t been in close proximity to TB since 2001, when I was involved in one of his foreign visits, and I had forgotten about the size of the entourage and the buzz of feeling close to the centre of power. He’s really going to miss all that when he’s gone. Finally, when the motorcade had sped off, and seen by almost no one, Lord Levy emerged from the hotel and darted across the road to his car. As I said, all very odd.
A farewell appearance by the PM
27.9.06 09:36