I will be amazed if Straw doesn't explicitly or implicitly make it clear that Britain will not go ahead with the referendum plans.

To outsiders he is a complete unknown. Will he have the skills to out-debate Blair?

Of course, playing Duke, that's a big game. But every ACC game is a big game.

Whereas last year there was a clear popular preference for Mr Brown over Mr Blair as Prime Minister, that has now all but vanished.

I guess I made a good play. I missed the first free throw but I made the second one, and I had to make up for something. I hadn't played well on offense, so I tried to make it up on defense.

The sense that Tony Blair is distancing himself from his party is even more acute than in the past, and I am sure they would like a timetable for giving way to someone else, probably (Chancellor) Gordon Brown.