"My sense was that, as soon as Gordon Brown walked into the Imagination gallery this morning, he looked different. He didn't look like the Chancellor of the Exchequer any more. He looked like a guy who was going to be Prime Minister. He has gained the aura.

I suppose there was a bit of nervousness, because it was such a big occasion. But from where I was standing he looked quite relaxed, and he took every single question on the nose.

He seemed to have the shackles off at last. Any questions he was asked, basically, he went for it.

The overall theme was that he was breaking with the Blair style of government, while keeping the Blair style of policies.

Blair casts himself as EU president candidate

Speaking on French TV, Tony Blair sang the praises of the EU and sketched his agenda for its future, all in fluent French

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He was saying, 'When I get elected on June 24 and then appoint my Cabinet the following week, it will be a New Labour government but it won't be Blair Mark II.'

He wasn't running away from the policies at all, and he kept referring to New Labour throughout. When he was asked about NHS private treatment centres he said they were the right policy, good policies, and he would go on funding more of them.

But he did say that presentation was never a substitute for substance, and that this wasn't the time for celebrity politics. There is no doubt who he was getting at there.

It is the style he is worried about, and he kept saying we have to "listen and learn". He promised massive consultation about the health service.

In substance terms there was a hell of a lot in it, a huge amount.

On Iraq, he spoke of mistakes having been made, with not enough emphasis being put on economic development and political reconciliation, or on making people feel they had a stake in their country. He hinted very strongly that he would be off to Iraq to reassess what was going on there. He is not saying that he is going to bring out the troops straight away, but clearly Iraq is a priority for him.

There were a lot of other things: big constitutional reform, for one.

People have become more cynical about politics and politicians. What all this is about is restoring trust in Labour and in politics - trust that has been lost by the Blair government."

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