Blair pledges to press on with modernisation

Tony Blair, the Labour leader, yesterday robustly defended his modernisation of the party, saying that in government he would not "bend the knee" to trade unions and that key recommendations in the leaked strategy document called The Unfinished Revolution were "simply common sense".

On the day after his first address to the Trades Union Congress in Brighton, Mr Blair refused to give the commitment unions demanded to renationalise the railways if they were sold off. He told Jimmy Young on BBC Radio 2: "This is put to me as something that we would then have to bend the knee to - if the unions all line up and want something, then we have to bend the knee and do it. It's no different from the CBI - they make demands upon Conservative and Labour governments all the time ... Of course we will listen to the trade unions ... but we will be the Government."

His comments will have done nothing to soothe strained relations with his deputy, John Prescott, already offended by the fact that he had not seen the leaked document, written by Philip Gould, one of Mr Blair's closest advisers.

A spokeswoman for Mr Prescott yesterday made it clear that he had been unhappy at his exclusion: "John has read the document and had a discussion with Tony, and is now very happy with the situation."

n A poll out today reveals Labour's recent difficulties have not damaged its lead over the Conservatives.The ICM poll in the Guardian shows Labour's lead has gone up to 17 points compared with last month's 16.

Andrew Marr, page 15