Smug?

Uh oh - just saw this worrying piece of smugness on Conservative Home

"Our deadliest political opponent leaves the stage

Tories should not be under any illusions as to the significance of what is happening. The Blair era is coming to an end and with it we are seeing the end of our party's most formidable ever opponent. For more than a decade he has confounded the Conservative Party at almost every turn. He has led deep raids into our natural territory - geographically and ideologically.

The Blair years have been the years of greatest trial for the Conservative Party. That is no coincidence. Politics is going to be different in the Post-Blair era. Our most deadly political opponent is about to leave the stage. That can only be good news."

The point that was missed of course was that Blair set up his departure brilliantly. If John Major could rescue the shambles of a parliamentary party and drag it into another election in a fighting mood, then how much more could Brown (or worse, John Reid) do so with Tony teeing up the succession so neatly.

Yes, Labour could dissolve into infighting, but more likely they will use this conference to bury the hatchet and prepare for a leadership contest. Whoever wins that bruising ordeal (Reid?) will have rightly earned their honeymoon period.

A lot hangs on D.Cs speech. Will it match last year's - hardly. So will it deliver?

Conference should be fun...