“It’s perfectly obvious what the Conservatives should do but it may not be obvious to them. I’m not giving them free advice, but while people say their current strategy is very clever it is not a programme for government. How can you run a campaign that doesn’t talk about the economy?”ON LIBERAL DEMOCRATSWhat about the Liberal Democrats? Does he regret failing to work more closely with them as he once sought to do?Perhaps his answer is a pointer for the future. In opposition, we constantly analysed and reassessed what it is the Labour Party should be for. People in the party used to come to me and say we need to change a policy because it was unpopular with voters.

I always said that was never a good reason for changing a policy. Instead we had to ask why the electorate was rejecting a policy The change had to be rooted in conviction. What matters is that we are a modern social democratic party out of conviction and that you do not simply seek to split the difference on policy issues.”ON CONSERVATIVESOne of the mistakes of the Conservative Party, according to Mr Blair, is to regard New Labour largely as the product of spin.But he is emphatic we are not witnessing what some have described as the “strange death” of the Conservative Party “No of course we’re not In the 1980s, people said Labour would never win again. That suggests a fragile government as well as a stormy relationship.”The relationship is not fragile because the mutual respect and friendship goes far deeper than people understand from the outside.

But you are right if the Prime Minister and the Chancellor are at odds there is a problem. It is important that the two of us work together and closely.’Polls suggest that Mr Brown is now more popular with the voters. I suggest that might have something to do with Mr Blair’s determination to govern from the centre ground. In the end, such a position is bound to disappoint both those on the left and the right.”There is that danger, although I think it comes more from the media than the public, that you lose support at both ends. But that is why it is essential that you have a programme that is fully worked out and that we lead from conviction.

I don’t believe Gordon has ever had a problem with that at all. It’s never been a problem in the discussions we have had together.”Almost as an aside on NHS reform he asks: “Have you been tracking the questions I have been getting from Scottish journalists at the press conferences about the lack of reform in Scotland?” He does not expand, but the implication is clear.I put it to him that when he and Mr Brown are perceived to be working well, the fortunes of the Government and Labour improve, and when they are getting on badly there is a sense of disarray. But you can open up a diversity of supply so if a patient can’t be treated by the NHS they can use the independent sector But it must be free at the point of use. Mr Blair goes out of his way to deploy a Brownite term, stressing the need “to personalise” public services.”Yes we will work on public service reform. It’s very important we work closely together on the whole public service reform agenda, on personalising public services, opening them up to a greater diversity of supply.”Has he managed to convert Mr Brown, who has publicly stated that markets in health care are ineffective and unfair?”No one disputes that a market in the NHS can work like a market in supermarkets. This is one of the seemingly rare excursions where Mr Brown is not with him.

I ask whether the rapprochement extends beyond the election and that the two of them will work together on the reform of the public services.His answer suggests to me that their pre-election discussions have included ways of reaching some agreement on this agenda, the one that has been the source of most tension between them. I believe passionately about investment in skills, science and technology. I want to see that through.”ON GORDON BROWNIt is lunchtime and Mr Blair consumes the odd mouthful of salad as the train heads for London where his next stop will be a meeting with health professionals. In the carriage of the train there is a familiar entourage of advisers reading newspapers, gossiping about the campaign and speaking into mobile phones.There is one absentee. Gordon Brown and I also talk a lot about adapting to globalisation.