TONY BLAIR had the late Les Dawson, his former communications chief Alastair Campbell and speechwriter Phil Collins to thank for the joke that sent the Labour conference into convulsions and defused the row over the disputed claim that his wife had called Gordon Brown a liar.

“At least I don’t have to worry about her running off with the bloke next door,” Mr Blair said after thanking his family, and particularly Cherie, for their support during his time in charge.

He brought the house down and one of the trickiest parts of his speech became a triumph.

Yesterday’s headlines were dominated by the way that Mrs Blair had overshadowed Mr Brown’s big day at the conference. She had allegedly accused Mr Brown of telling a lie in saying that it had been a great privilege for him to work with Mr Blair. She and No 10 strenuously denied the remark, but the damage was done.

Mr Blair had insisted all day that the best way to deal with the issue was through humour. But as he came closer to his date with the conference, no one in the speechwriting team had come up with anything.

Before Mr Blair left for the conference hall Mr Collins recalled Dawson’s joke: “My wife has run off with the bloke next door. I’m going to miss him!” Mr Campbell quickly said: “That’s it. There is no danger of Cherie running off with the bloke next door.”

According to one of those present the team fell about laughing and Mr Blair immediately bought the idea. It was a risk but it worked to perfection. And it left Mr Blair’s team wishing they had tried humour the day before. As far back as 1996 it was claimed that Mr Blair had sought help to en- liven his conference speech. Geoff Atkinson, producer of the Channel 4 Rory Bremner Show, said then that he had received a request from Jonathan Powell, the Labour leader’s chief of staff, for help.

“It is one thing for us to turn the Labour Party into the end-of-the pier show, but now they seem to be doing it themselves,” he said. “You would have thought this was one speech he could write for himself rather than ask for help from a TV comedy show.”

In the end Mr Blair threw in a crowd-pleasing joke about the Tories’ nicknames: “First it was Stalin. Then it was Kim Il Sung. Now it’s the devil with demon eyes. Can’t we just go back to Bambi?” At the 1999 conference, beginning his speech as 16,000 Countryside Alliance demonstrators marched outside the hall, Mr Blair joked: “Here goes, tally-ho!”

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