Blair warns 'smug' party

Tony Blair yesterday delivered his sternest warning yet to his party against taking election victory for granted, rebuking Labour MPs and activists for "chilling complacency".

Winding up the party's local government and Europe conferences in Birmingham, the Labour leader complained that he was still "confronted daily" by signs of members resting on their laurels: "MPs telling me that my real worry will be a massive Commons majority; members writing to tell me we should be making plans for the election after next."

Predicting the "longest, toughest" campaign of our lives" Mr Blair warned: "No one owes us power just because we have been in opposition for 17 years. We must work for it."

The Labour leader accused the Tories of campaigning without calling an election - but he is doing the same. His latest effort to stiffen party resolve comes ahead of three more speeches this week.

Turning his fire yesterday on the "Tory lie machine" that had been geared up in place of running the government, Mr Blair mocked the defence of hereditary peers in the Lords by the Conservative Party chairman, Brian Mawhinney.

"The first Lord Brocket bought the title from Lloyd George. The second Lord Brocket was one of Britain's leading Nazi sympathisers. The third Lord Brocket has just started five years for fraud. Is this really what made Britain great, Dr Mawhinney?"

Pledging to "expose the Tory game" on tax in the run-up to the May local elections, the Labour leader said the Tory trick was to cut income tax by a penny and force council tax bills up to pay for it.

Mr Blair poured scorn on the rail privatisation with a jibe that Ronnie Biggs could be expected to head the new London, Tilbury and Southend line.

He urged "trust and partnership" with the electorate - "people turning to Labour not because they fear the alternative . . . but because they share our vision, they understand our policies and they believe the one can fulfil the other".