DEFIANT Tony Blair said the rebirth of a rundown part of Manchester showed dramatically why he was an eternal optimist.
Slamming Tories as "political pessimists" he told Blackpool delegates of his visit to Manchester this weekend.
The Prime Minister brushed off his defeat at the hands of the unions over private financing of schools and hospitals and boasted: "I'm an optimist and I hope I always will be."
And he held up the Beswick estate in Manchester as a shining example of regeneration and reform.
He said: "I visited the Beswick estate in East Manchester on Saturday with John Prescott. Three years ago it was going down, now it's on the way up after massive investment.
"The primary school results dramatically improved. Were the boys and girls in 2002 brighter than their brothers and sisters in 1999? Rubbish!
"All that's changed is that for the first time in their lives people are giving them a bit of hope, a bit of belief, a bit of confidence that they are every bit as much entitled to a start in life as the middle class kid five miles up the road."
Modest steps
In his keynote speech Mr Blair's main message was that while the Labour government had made progress there was still much to do, particularly improving public services such as health and education.
"Do we take modest steps or do we have a great push forward? We're at our best when we're at our boldest.
"We've made a good start but we've not been bold enough at home and abroad."
He said Labour had reformed education but in a post-comprehensive school era, while it was right to keep the basic principles, they had to give parents and pupils more choice. Labour had reformed the NHS, but more power had to be given to doctors and nurses on the front line.
"Now is the time to quicken the march of progress, not mark time. Now we have to up the pace of reform, not slow down."
He turned to the problems of Iraq and said that while he favoured a United Nations approach the threat of military action had to remain.]]
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