THE Prime Minister is a very good salesman. I realised this midway through his monthly press conference when, in mid-flow, he began to remind me of one of those salesmen who make you feel guilty that you have not purchased the most uncomfortable sofa in the room which is in exactly the wrong colour and is too big to fit through the front door anyway.

Not, of course, that the Prime Minister is selling sofas, but you will see what I mean.

Mr Blair arrived a trifle late and began with a little joke that is too tiny to repeat. He seemed to be wearing quite a bit of make-up and even, perhaps, blusher.

Actually I am not sure Mr Blair is ever out of make-up these days, at least in public. New Labour, New Man, New Men in Make-up.

Surely it is now time for new Labour to start its very own brand of cosmetics. I, for one, would be willing to queue for a tub of Peter Hain Golden Glow.

The Prime Minister doesn’t like to sell anything too small. He likes subjects that can expand into crusades for right and good and social justice all round. He did this with Iraq and, yesterday, he made it perfectly clear that he was going to do it on top-up fees and university funding.

Top-up. Top-up. Top-up. The words kept popping up like toast at an all-day breakfast café. The Prime Minister used to speak as frequently of Iraq but yesterday it hardly got a mention. When it did, he didn’t even try to sell it: “I don’t want the occupation to go on a moment longer than it needs to.” It was a moment of reality that made almost no impact on top-up fever.

Mr Blair thinks top-up fees are fantastic. First he wanted everyone to know there was nothing to pay upfront. Nothing at all. He hopes parents understand that. He hopes students have taken this in.

At this point a little banner should have appeared saying: “Buy now, pay ABSOLUTELY nothing for 36 months!!!” It began to sound as if top-up fees actually were going to save us money. This is, as all shoppers know, a very dangerous moment indeed.

The more Mr Blair talked, the less it seemed that this was about money at all. It was bigger than that. It was an investment in a fairer society in which education was “free at the point of study”. It was about creating social justice and a system “fair at the point of repayment”. Nor was it just about education: “This is a reform that is absolutely central to the future of Britain and the future of the British economy.”

There would be no retreat but Mr Blair knows — and this may be his favourite bit — that it will not be easy. It would be a “hard struggle”. It would be a “big struggle”. There were many still out there to persuade. But he thought he could do it. “The job of leadership is to try and turn people around.”

Mr Blair adores talking about leadership. He was positively perky when asked about the possibility of defeat. “Of course my authority is on the line,” he said. “It always is with these votes.”

But he made it clear that it must be done: “This Government has got to be a radical reforming government making the changes necessary to equip this country for the future or it does not have a purpose.”

What a drama-rama. It was exhausting just listening to it. Mr Blair is hooked on high-wire politics. He likes the adrenalin to be racing and for his future to be on the line. So it’s over the top, then, for top-up fees.

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