Appearing in public for the first time since the birth of his son Leo, he was back at the helm with a public opinion poll lead bigger than Mr Manilow’s hooter.From all across England, Wales, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man, the massed ranks of the jam and Jerusalem brigade packed Wembley to the rafters as Mr Blair trilled along to their trusty anthem.”Bring me my bow of burning gold! Bring me my arrows of desire!” he sang, word perfect, as the hall pledged to bring Chariots of Fire to England’s green and pleasant land.After the singsong, Helen Carey, the national chairman (“That’s chairman, not woman,” stressed an aide) of the WI, welcomed the Prime Minister and congratulated him on the arrival of his fourth child.Mr Blair turned on the charm unashamedly, referring immediately to the infamous nude calendar produced by the fine women of Rylstone and District WI in North Yorkshire.”I thought that it could be my lucky day,” he said, to cheers from England’s most unlikely page three girls. For one awful moment, it looked as though the women from Rylstone were set to throw off their tops in adulation, but they resisted the temptation.Sadly, Mr Blair did not come on stage in his favourite faded denim shirt, the one that showed a wisp of chest hair in his official photograph with Leo.Armed with a new baby, 101 women MPs and a sheaf of interviews with magazines such as Bella and Prima, the Labour leader was clearly relishing his female audience and set about calling for a return to the “best of British values”.This was meant to be Mr Blair’s attempt to reiterate his personal credo, a message of reassurance to Middle Britain after that nasty Gordon Brown’s class-warrior onslaught.But just as he was getting into his stride, the rebellion started. The man who had minutes before talked about the importance of “respect for others, courtesy, giving up your seat for the elderly” was himself subjected to a marked lack of respect At first just one woman stood up to heckle. Mr Blair carried on regardless, but when he reeled off a list of figures about how much better Britain was under Labour, the discontent resurfaced.

Representatives of the West Midlands began to slow handclap the Prime Minister. Small in number at first, the protest spread like a Mexican wave across the hall until Mr Blair had to stop.An embarrassed Mrs Carey tried to calm the masses. “Please let the Prime Minister speak, out of politeness,” she said. “Well, I’m glad we’re having a good debate, anyway,” he replied weakly.Trying again, he appeared to have quelled the opposition with some choice passages about parents making sure children turned up to school, crackdowns on absent fathers and penalties for benefit claimants. But it was when he mentioned the Government’s plans for rural post offices that Mr Blair was back in trouble once more.

“No, no, no,” shouted several women as the slow handclapping resumed.Tone had misjudged the tone and the carefully spun event had backfired spectacularly, prompting ridicule later in the day from the Opposition leader, William Hague, at Prime Minister’s Question Time.When he finally sat down, Mr Blair was thanked by a flustered Mrs Carey, who gamely attempted to inject an element of Carry-On humour to lighten proceedings “Prime Minister, I would like you to launch our website… I gather you can press any button,” she said, to titters from the audience.But Mrs Carey stressed that the WI was deadly serious about its campaign to save the post offices, pointing out that 25,000 members had signed a petition that was due to be presented to Downing Street today.”It’s been a unique experience for us today. It’s the first time that our influence and importance has been recognised in such a way by any prime minister,” she said. “We look forward to your next visit.” As gales of ironic laughter swept around the vast hall, Mr Blair smiled bravely and then was gone.Outside the hall, the women made plain their anger that Mr Blair had gatecrashed their conference and used party politics in his speech.Iris Bruce, 67, of Mayfield WI in East Sussex, was furious “It’s what he actually said that upset people. He should’ve kept it to non-party matters.”Jeni Pritchard, secretary of Fernhurst WI in West Sussex,who described herself as “the wrong side of 50″, was equally upset. “He used us as a vehicle, as a platform for a party broadcast,” she said. “Considering most of us are Conservatives or Libs, I thought it was naughty.”As Downing Street spin doctors reflected on the public relations catastrophe, it was clear the ladies of the WI had thought the unthinkable.

Instead of throwing their knickers at him, they had booed Tony Manilow off stage.. The state might no longer pay people who are out of work under Labour’s reforms of the welfare system, David Blunkett, Secretary of State for Education and Employment, said yesterday. The state might no longer pay people who are out of work under Labour’s reforms of the welfare system, David Blunkett, Secretary of State for Education and Employment, said yesterday.
He suggested that families might have to shoulder more of the burden of helping relatives who fall on hard times as he sketched out Labour’s long-term agenda for modernising the benefits system.Speaking to the Institute for Public Policy Research, Mr Blunkett said the state should provide equality of opportunity and a fair and decent society. “But it is not possible for us to create an environment in which the state has some overarching responsibility for paying people who are not at work,” he said.Mr Blunkett added: “We must ensure that the balance between the responsibility of the family and that of the state is recognised and that we do not fall into the trap of believing that we can overcome the structural inequalities of all families in all communities.”He said the Government needed to ensure that it maximised the potential, talent and well-being of everyone. “This includes looking further at the patterns of people’s working and family lives, and the balance between the responsibilities of individuals, families and the state.”His comments will be seen as controversial by some Labour MPs, who have already staged Commons rebellions over cuts in benefits for single mothers and the disabled.But Mr Blunkett sugared the pill by announcing immediate measures to make it easier for those out of work to take jobs. They will be allowed to draw benefits while doing a temporary job, and receive further help towards travelling to interviews. The jobseekers’ allowance (JSA), formerly unemployment benefit, will be suspended rather than terminated, to make it easier for people to claim again after a short period of temporary work.”We want to make sure JSA is truly an allowance for job-seekers, not a punishment for job losers,” he said.

He argued that the key to creating an efficient welfare state was to make the system more flexible and sweep away illogical and anachronistic elements.Mr Blunkett said the system had to be “an enabling force in the lives of men and women”, a provider of skills for the economy as a whole, and had to update its role as a safety net to ensure people could be self-reliant and invest in their education and well-being. The system should provide “a hand-up, not a hand-out,” he said.. The Government will today announce plans for a new national agency for treating addiction, in an effort to reduce the number of crimes committed by drug users. The Government will today announce plans for a new national agency for treating addiction, in an effort to reduce the number of crimes committed by drug users.
Home Secretary Jack Straw will tell an audience in London that some addicts are carrying out hundreds of crimes while waiting to be admitted to treatment programmes.In a speech for the Social Market Foundation, a centre-left think-tank, Mr Straw will refer to the cocaine problem of EastEnders actress Danniella Westbrook as evidence of the damage drugs can cause to young lives.Mr Straw and the Health Secretary, Alan Milburn, are planning a National Treatment Agency to ensure NHS trusts and local authorities improve the efficiency of drug rehabilitation programmes.