The British Chancellor, Mr Gordon Brown, wowed the Labour conference yesterday with a speech combining a pledge of continued economic prudence with the promise of full employment, and a pledge to win the war against "the child poverty that has shamed Britain".
Yet again, Mr Brown demonstrated his ability to work conference, touching traditional Labour buttons with attacks on an "old Britain" of monopolies, cartels, cliques and hereditary privilege.
But in a relentlessly modernising message, he said the new economy of the next decade would need more competition, more entrepreneurship, more flexibility and more long-term investment. Companies and countries which failed to adapt, reform and lead would simply be left behind.
He challenged conference: "Let us be honest with ourselves: we must never again become a party that is seen as anti-success, anti-competition, anti-profits and anti-markets." Mr Brown continued: "Our enemy is not markets but monopoly, not competition but cartels, not profits but privilege and greed. And it is because our party understands the importance of opportunity for all that we must be the party that promotes enterprise open to all."
Mocking the notion of Mr Michael Portillo as the "human face" of a "more caring Conservativism" Mr Brown said: "Let the Tories go to Blackpool and prepare for their next leadership election. Here in Bournemouth, we are planning for the next general election."
And with that election now firmly in the prime minister's sights, the Chancellor declared: "We will never return to the days of Tory boom-bust. So in the years ahead we will always be vigilant about stability. Our Labour government will never take risks with inflation. I will never let the deficit get out of control. We will not spend money we have not earned. Our years of responsibility have only just begun."
Despite continuing speculation that he had "cooled" in his enthusiasm for British membership of the euro, Mr Brown said: "We will be the party of Britain in Europe. Europe is where we are, where we trade, from where thousands of businesses and millions of jobs come.