'Noo Labour' is wowed as the Bill'n'Kev show hits town

Even before the speech, the rhythmic clapping had started. Women fanned themselves furiously with conference brochures, union leaders whooped and yelped. And all this was just for Kevin Spacey.

By the time the 42nd president of the United States came on stage, Blackpool had already joined a long list of starry-eyed victims of the legendary Bill Clinton charm. At the end of his 50-minute speech to the Labour conference, the town's infamously frosty "Nuclear" Winter Gardens had undoubtedly melted.

With a touch of the 1950s municipal homeliness that used to characterise this resort, preparations for his arrival began on Tuesday when a solitary banner declaring "Blackpool Welcomes President Clinton" was dangled above the illuminations. Fresh from a tour of Africa with Spacey, the Clinton entourage checked into a £180-a-night suite at the Imperial Hotel before embarking on a dizzying round of social engagements.

But it wouldn't be a Clinton visit without the impromptu break-out from the security cordon and he strolled along the Golden Mile accompanied by the unlikely grouping of Alastair Campbell, Spacey and 11 security heavies. Blackpool is normally overflowing with hen parties of goosepimpled gals but the former president managed to avoid any such encounter with Lancashire's lasses as skillfully as he avoided the dollops of donkey doo-doo on the Prom.

He had wanted to see an authentic bingo hall, only to find the nearest one closed. He went into McDonald's instead. Baz Griezns, the 20-year-old shift manager, said: "We were all absolutely gobsmacked. There was a real buzz about the place when they came in. When you are ending your shift, the last thing you expect is to see two of the most famous men on the planet walk in."

Yesterday, Mr Clinton gave a performance that made both his Oscar-winning pal and Mr Blair look like am-dram enthusiasts. The unmistakable presence of the man, the electricity he gives off, the pheromone of power, somehow compensate for the feeling the morning after that you've been gulled by a snakeoil salesman.

Over-endowed with the priceless gift of making everyone in the hall feel as if he was talking directly to them, Mr Clinton worked the room with intimate eye contact. He peppered his speech with shamelessly Campbellesque touches such as Labour's slogan "Schools and Hospitals First" and the Working Families Tax Credit.

His opening line, "Clinton, Bill, Arkansas CLP" had them spluttering with laughter.

Cherie Blair, who had turned into a complete Spacey cadet for the day, chaperoning the star of The Usual Suspects, laughed loudest of all.

Barely a hint of any Big Mac aftertaste, the ex-President's words soared into the fake chandeliers, the former Democrat leader doing what he does best, emoting, empathising, chiding. Part-preacherman, part-teacherman, he exposed the brutal fact that the Prime Minister, even at the top of his game, was but a pale facsimile of the Clinton original. This was the genuine article, the Third Way politician many tried to copy only to fail.

Noo Labour, as he called it, was repeating many of the successes of his own eight-year term in office, with economic stability allowing greater social justice and rigid ideology replaced with a commitment to "what works".

Mr Clinton, who worked closely with Mr Blair on the Northern Ireland peace process, appealed to both sides of the community to keep it on track. "I would like to say to the people of the land I had loved so well: keep your eyes on the prize and don't turn back."

He talked about Africa, how he'd seen free trade in Ghana, pleaded for the life of a woman in Nigeria, met genocide victims in Rwanda and fought Aids in South Africa. Sadly, those wags waiting for him to mention discussions in Uganda were sorely disappointed.

Whereas the Prime Minister's vision sometimes stretches to the past 100 years, Mr Clinton took in "the whole history of our species" and "the history of civilisation".

Clearly aiming some of his remarks at the Congressional elections back home, each dig at the Bush administration won applause and cheers, as did a carefully calibrated slight against the Tories' "compassionate Conservatism".

But it was his successor's failure to respect international institutions, such as the Kyoto treaty and international criminal court, that irked him most. America had to learn it could not impose its will on the globe. "You can't have an integrated world and have your say all the time. America can lead the world but we can't dominate and run the world," he said.

After his virtuoso performance, he received a lengthy and rapturous ovation, giving the crowd his lazy Commander-in-Chief salute. Just when it looked like his ovation was going to exceed the two minutes 15 seconds of Mr Blair's total the day before, he was ushered off the stage.

Millbank officials were quick to deny rumours Mr Clinton had been paid handsomely for the speech but even as the presidential pelvis left the building, conference TV screens flashed up the message: "Clinton Speech Video Available NOW – £10."