As the election campaign entered its final week, staff at Labour headquarters were treated to a surprise guest. “It is going really well,” Tony Blair told them. “I’m not betting on it but …” His audience burst into laughter, the Tory betting scandal still fresh in their minds.
Yet the former prime minister also wanted to reassure the exhausted but excited crowd of about 100 party officials that the role they were playing to bring Labour “back from the brink of extinction” and within touching distance of power was crucial.
