Focus on the issues says Blair

Speaking on the day of his last Labour conference as premier, Mr Blair disclosed he and Gordon Brown had agreed a Cabinet deal that meant the Prime Minister would not yet openly endorse any successor.

But two Cabinet ministers - Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett and Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain - used TV interviews to declare their full backing for the Chancellor.

As delegates gathered in Manchester for the conference which opens this afternoon, Mr Blair told BBC 1's Sunday AM programme: "What I want to do this week is say to the party: We have had a difficult time recently. Go back, focus on the public, the public's concerns and things that really worry people.

"Set out the big ideas on the health service, on education, on immigration, on law and order, how we keep a strong economy in the new global world.

"If we do that, then all the stuff of the last few weeks will be forgotten and we can concentrate on the future."

Danger

He went on: "The danger for us is very, very simple. This is the problem with the last few weeks. For the first time since I became leader, the Labour Party went awol from the British public, it looked in on itself, it started all the infighting and the rest of it.

"The public out there are angry about that. They don't want to see their Government do that. They want us to govern.

"Actually, we have the capacity to govern. We have the programme that's the right programme for government.

"If you take pensions or energy, two of the trickiest issues in the world today, we have come up with answers capable of unifying party and country.

"Concentrate on that - the leadership issue will look after itself in due course."

He sent a message to anyone considering trying to revive the leadership row during the conference: "The best thing for anybody who has the interests of the Labour Party at heart this week is to concentrate on that forward agenda."

Pressed several times by interviewer Andrew Marr, the PM insisted he would not express a preference about his successor at this stage.

Mr Blair said he would not "resile" from previous comments he has made about Mr Brown, including the prediction that he would make a brilliant Prime Minister.

"Gordon has been a fantastic Chancellor," said Mr Blair. "He has been a great servant of the country and the party and I don't resile from anything I have said before.

"But this week I am talking to the public about the public's concerns.

"That's the agreement we made at Cabinet and that's what we are going to do.

"Both of us realise - and we were talking about this yesterday together - that the most important thing is that this week we set out our agenda for the future."

But despite Mr Blair's plea, the battle to succeed him looked certain to dominate the gathering in Manchester.

Mr Brown is due to address delegates tomorrow in what will be seen as a key test of his leadership potential.

Mrs Beckett delivered her backing for him on Sky News' Sunday Live programme.

"I have always felt that Gordon was the person who would be a brilliant prime minister - was both most likely to succeed Tony and also should," she said.

"As far as I am concerned it is Gordon Brown's time."

Mr Hain also reaffirmed his support for the Chancellor as the next prime minister.

However the Ulster Secretary, who has said that he intends to stand for the deputy leadership when John Prescott steps down, said he believed it would be good for the Labour Party if there was a proper leadership contest.

Healthy

"I think a contest would be healthy for the party. Gordon has said that and I agree with him," he told Sunday Live.

"I don't think that anybody can beat Gordon because I think he is the best person for the job. He is the other towering figure of British politics.

"I think when Gordon does, as I think he will, walk into No 10 to follow Tony, then people will see he is a substantial figure - a global figure as well as a big British figure - and I think he will tower over British politics in a way that Tony has."

Home Secretary John Reid - seen as a Blair loyalist - also stressed the need for a proper debate over the future direction of the party.

He told ITV1's Sunday Edition: "People want to see that there will be an open, transparent discussion on a wide range of issues and not some smoke-filled room deal like the Labour Party used to engage in.

"I'm assuring you, those days are long gone."

Labour chairwoman Hazel Blears opens the conference this afternoon in Manchester's G-Mex centre, with what is expected to be another rallying cry for unity.

Follow all the conference news here throughout this evening.

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