Dead man walking

I went to the TUC in Brighton yesterday for the Stop the War fringe meeting. On a beautiful warm evening we filled the meeting room in the Albion Hotel. The platform was a clutch of general secretaries (from the TGWU, PCS, UCU and NUJ), myself and John McDonnell MP, who is standing for leader when Blair stands down.

The mood of the meeting was defiant, horrified at Blair's complicity in the Lebanon, determined to oppose future wars and committed to mobilising for the mass demo outside Labour's conference next week on September 23.

Watching the reaction to Tony Blair's speech at the TUC today, I felt very proud of our movement. British trade unions have nearly all developed a strong anti war policy over recent years and they have always given backing to our demonstrations and campaigning.

So Bob Crow _who helped us steward our first really big demo in September 2002_held up one of our 'Time to Go' posters in the hall before leading the RMT delegation out of the hall in protest at Blair. Other delegates wore 'Time to Go' t shirts as they sat grimly listening to what must rank as a poor speech even by Blair's standards.

I can only imagine how badly received certain parts were: the defence of Israel, the call to remember the dead of 9/11 without remembering the dead of Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon, the justification of his wars in the name of eradicating terrorism while failnig to notice they have actually exacerbated terrorism.

And then there were no questions on the war!

There can be few in the hall who don't wish Blair would go now, even though not too many seem enthusiastic for Gordon Brown. I know Blair wants a tour which will see him exit on a wave of euphoria: with appearances on Blue Peter and Songs of Praise, and visits to the Millennium Dome and the Angel of the North. He doesn't have to bother _ there would be a wave of euphoria if he went now, and an even greater wave if whoever succeeded him changed foreign policy so we weren't waging illegal wars and occupying other people's countries.

Remarkably, most commentators barely mention the war as the reason for Labour's political meltdown. Yet Lebanon has broken Blair. MPs who reluctantly backed the war in Iraq could not stomach Blair yet again following Bush. That's why more than 100 Labour MPs wanted parliament recalled in the summer and why so many signed letters calling for Blair to go.

The TUC reception was the worst ever for a Labour prime minister. Whatever deals have been done with Brown, Blair is now dead man walking. Definitely time to go.

More unions have come on board with sponsorship of the demo next week _ the latest are the RMT and BECTU. Something's going on in the unions, and the 23rd is going to be a big one.