The Liberal Democrat leader, Mr Paddy Ashdown, yesterday challenged the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, to finally identify himself as either "a pluralist" or "a control freak". And he warned the Prime Minister that Liberal Democrat co-operation with his government would hinge on Mr Blair's decision on "fair votes" for the British people.
Mr Ashdown sent his party delegates away from their Brighton conference with their sights firmly fixed on the Jenkins' Commission Report on Electoral Reform, expected next month. Seeking to reassure party activists - fearful of his closeness to New Labour, and distrustful of the Prime Minister's commitment to a referendum on electoral reform before the next election - Mr Ashdown spoke directly to Mr Blair. "You have honoured, when many said you didn't need to, commitments you made on constitutional change before the election, and I respect you for that," said Mr Ashdown. But he continued: "I have one great question about you. Are you a pluralist or are you a control freak? Your decision on fair votes will tell us which. It will reveal what kind of government yours will be. It will determine the future course of our work together and it will tell us what kind of country you want Britain to be."
However, clearly confident that the Blair government could prove itself truly "historic", Mr Ashdown urged his own supporters to keep their nerve as he offered them the tantalising glimpse of the prospect of power.
"For decades," he declared, "we have circled the walls of Jericho, blowing the trumpets of reform. Now, at last, the walls are coming down. If we keep our nerve, if we stay focused on the future, if we stay players on the field - not spectators from the sidelines - then we shall be at the centre of one of the greatest periods of reform our nation has ever seen."
Mr Ashdown, in his 10th year as leader, said his party was entering a new era of opportunity and must be prepared to rise to the challenge.
But in a rebuke to delegates - who on Wednesday defeated the leadership's plans to take responsibility for school management from local authorities in favour of Neighbourhood Schools Trusts - Mr Ashdown said: "We will have nothing to say as Liberals if we allow ourselves to become, like the others, mere instruments for holding the centres of power we have, instead of using these for handing on power to those we serve. We will have nothing to say as Liberals if, when we have the chance to show we trust the people to do things for themselves, we conclude that they cannot be trusted."
PA adds: Welsh Nationalists could stop Labour having overall control of the Welsh Assembly, Plaid Cymru said yesterday. The party president, Mr Dafydd Wigley, said growing support for Plaid in opinion polls and the increasing unpopularity of the Labour Government made 30 per cent of the vote an attainable target in the historic vote next May.