LABOUR leader Tony Blair yesterday predicted he would win the battle to transform his party as the old guard left-wing fumed at his surprise plans to remove its commitment to nationalisation.
His call for a wholesale review of the party's constitution and the axing of the famous Clause Four - the nationalisation clause introduced in 1918 - has brought the pledge of a fight from left-wingers, though support from most trade unions.
However, with even the Tory press hailing his speech to the party as the most important in a generation, Mr Blair was yesterday optimistic that he would succeed without too much blood letting.
The left of the party is crying betrayal. Senior left-winger and National Executive Committee (NEC) member Dennis Skinner said: 'There is no doubt it will create upheaval in the party at a time when we have got the Tories on the the run and should be using every possible moment of time and energy to make sure we drive the Tories out of office.' His NEC colleague and fellow left-winger, Diane Abbott, said: 'Dropping Clause Four - I think the bitterness will come back to haunt him.' And miners' leader Arthur Scargill went even further, dubbing the Blair move a 'declaration of war'.
But senior members of Labour's shadow cabinet, many of whom were not told of the constitutional change beforehand, described the cries from the left as 'the last hurrah of the dinosaurs'.
Mr Blair yesterday predicted he would win the battle, with the constitutional proposals being ready for discussion by Christmas.
He insisted: 'We are not actually changing the heart of the Labour party, what we are trying to do is ensure that the values and principles of the party are right for today.
