The Guardian Boy, did he get under their skin. A speech made more than a week ago has Conservative blood boiling in Blackpool, its key phrases seared deep into Tory hearts. Every speaker at every podium, whether in the Winter Gardens or on the fringe, begins with a stab at it.
Delegates quote it back to themselves, just to recall how much they hated every word.
It gave everyone the shivers. Some claim to be genuinely hurt, offended by the prime minister's distortions of history which blamed conservatism for every ill in human history, from sexism to apartheid. In this the MPs are merely catching up with the rightwing commentariat who have been spitting bile about Blair's words for seven unbroken days. But underneath the outrage there is the smile of political calculation. Plenty of Conservatives believe that last week in Bournemouth Tony Blair made his first real mistake.