We think we know political leaders in a way that only a tiny elite could claim to know Gladstone or, for that matter, Clement Attlee. For all the effort put into media manipulation, it's actually impossible to conceal the truth about a personality under daily exposure for four weeks, let alone four years. We know Blair's every tic, suss out his evasions, see the piety in his eyes and can reckon for ourselves if he means it. More lethally, we have looked into the shallows of Hague and evidently decided, after seeing everything there is to see, that he doesn't cut it as a national leader. I don't think so.
Character is very important.
New Labour would not have been so New without Blair, as we can see by imagining realistically what John Smith would have done instead. Blair's persona and prejudice and feel and touch and individual tenacity reach through his government. Much that has happened both at home and abroad would not have been done but for his exceptionally strong personality, a unique mixture of traits that imposed the abolition of clause four on Labour, and the Kosovo war on the western world. Such a leader doesn't exist in a void. There are limits to his reach.