Blair attacks media 'hype and drivel'

A speech to the Women's Institute is where is all went wrong

Tony Blair sought to draw a line under his bumpy fortnight since his return from paternity leave when he dismissed the hostile reception from the Women's Institute as a "bit of heckling" and called for political debate to move from presentation onto the government's record.

The prime minister complained of "media hype and drivel" and said he wanted people to focus on the "big picture" of what his government was doing in health, education and the economy.

If people heckle you during the course of a speech, what are you supposed to do?

Tony Blair

Defending his policies, Mr Blair insisted that the most significant aspect of his speech to the WI was that he had believed in it.

The slow-handclapping and heckles meted out to him from the WI audience two weeks ago sparked anxious soul-searching and some recrimination in Labour ranks about the direction of government policy, and its widely-perceived reliance on "spin".

Rejecting the suggestion that he had been dumbfounded by the response to his speech, Mr Blair said: "If people heckle you during the course of a speech, what are you supposed to do?

"You've got to distinguish between what's important and what's a load of media hype and drivel."

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "What is important for us is to focus on what is truly important - and what is truly important is not getting a bit of heckling during a WI speech, it is delivering a strong, economy, decent public services and a fairer society."

Prescott joins fray

John Prescott: Soundbites must be matched with substance

Mr Blair's bad fortnight came as Labour appeared to move up a gear in its preparation for the next general election, with a number his aides at Ten Downing Street moving over to the party's headquarters.

His official press spokesman Alastair Campbell has already confirmed he is to take a lower profile role in the run-up to the election, amid fears that too much attention is being paid to spin.

On Sunday Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott had joined the criticism from within Labour of the government's apparent reliance on presentation over policy when he said: "I have had some criticism about spin-doctoring because I felt we had a positive message, but you have to put it out with substance."

He said the government's soundbites and slogans "can be very important, but they must have substance. If you say we are going to get people back to work and improve education, you must do so, and we have done that."

'Big picture'

Mr Blair insisted the focus on spin was not the fault of the government: "Never mind the points that are being made about this presentational difficulty or that presentational difficulty.

"If you put to me what is the substantial wrong direction that the government has taken, or a policy that we are engaged on that is wrong, then we can have a proper debate about that."

He added: "What I think would be good is to get a debate about policy and ideas so that, for example, we can expose the fact that the Conservatives have tax and spending plans that would push this country back into the type of situation that we saw in the late 80s, early 90s.

"So we could, for example, discuss how we are going to improve the health service and how they are going to push people out of the health service and into the private sector."

Mr Blair added: "Now, these are the points of political debate that are incredibly important to have, but the points of presentations in the end won't affect the big picture.

"And the big picture is about what this government is delivering for the country and whether we are delivering it. And that is exactly where I agree we should be pressed."