BRITAIN: Prime minister Tony Blair declared himself confident yesterday that Labour MPs would back his domestic reform agenda as ministers launched a charm offensive designed to defuse the threat of further backbench rebellions.
At the same time, questions about Mr Blair's survival dominated the first day of the formal Conservative leadership hustings as David Davis attacked front-runner David Cameron over his reported readiness to help keep an increasingly "isolated" Mr Blair in power.
As he went head to-head with Mr Cameron before gatherings of party activists in Leicester and Solihull, Mr Davis likened his opponent's leadership bid to "an early Blair strategy" and warned Conservatives against opting for "an image-led politics".
Of Mr Cameron's reported intention to back Mr Blair against Labour opponents of his government's planned education reforms, Mr Davis said that he would not "prop up a wounded Labour prime minister, now threatened with a backbench mutiny, if he tried to press ahead with his half-baked plans to revive failing public services". And he vowed: "I will not ride to Tony Blair's rescue. I will do all I can to hasten his end."
In reality, however, Mr Davis was battling the perception that his bid for the Tory crown is grinding to an inevitable end following Mr Cameron's accumulation of the votes of a majority of Tory MPs and the weekend endorsement of his campaign by vanquished leadership contender Dr Liam Fox and former party leader William Hague.
Claiming victory in yesterday's first hustings, Mr Davis insisted that the opinion polls were "pointing in both directions" and said there was everything to play for in nine further encounters with Mr Cameron. "We had a focus group [ Monday] morning 8-0 in my favour," he said. "What we see when I go round and talk to people is a large number of conversions to me, a fair number of uncertains. The simple truth is, from my point of view, that this will be decided on December 6th, and I will battle it all the way."
However, Mr Cameron claimed "great momentum" for his campaign following his endorsement by Mr Hague and Dr Fox amid confidence among his supporters that the backing of a majority of the parliamentary party is sending a strong message to activists who have yet to mark their ballot papers.
As Mr Davis emphasised his experience and policy depth, Mr Cameron continued to shrug off suggestions that he is "policy-lite", while trumpeting the message that only he can change the Conservative Party in order to reconnect it with women and younger voters.
Of his willingness to back some of Mr Blair's controversial education proposals, a spokesman for Mr Cameron said: "This is not about propping up Tony Blair. This is about being consistent and being credible.
"If the Labour Party puts forward proposals which we agree with, then we should support them and not just oppose for opposition's sake. That is the sort of Punch and Judy politics that people in Britain are tired of and which we must end."
Predictably, there was no end in sight to speculation about Mr Blair's likely future difficulties, with one former minister, Frank Dobson, predicting that as many as 100 Labour MPs could be willing to rebel in the Commons over aspects of the prime minister's domestic agenda.
However, following warnings from a former whip about the possibility of a Labour "civil war" unless he changes his leadership style, Mr Blair insisted that the vast majority of MPs backed his plans for health, education and welfare reforms, saying: "I've no doubt we will persuade those people - there is a minority of them in the party at present - who do not agree with some of the proposals. This is very different to the national security issue of last week . . . I'm actually very confident about it."
