Tony Blair: 'I'm not a dictator'

Tony Blair today denies charges of authoritarianism and autocracy in his leadership of the Labour Party.

But at the end of a week in which Shadow Cabinet elections and changes tightened Mr Blair's grip on the party - with left-winger Clare Short demoted - the Labour leader warns internal critics: "I will not leave anything undone that may get in the way of a Labour victory and good government."

In today's Independent on Sunday Mr Blair writes: "The Tories are already making clear they will go against me with unprecedented brutality. First it was Bambi - too weak. Then it was authoritarianism. The Bambi tag was always ridiculous, so is that of autocracy - the Labour Party is more open and democratic than ever before."

The Labour leader defends Labour's policy programme and stresses his commitment to equality. He writes: "I believe in greater equality. If the next Labour government has not raised the living standards of the poorest by the end of its time in office, it will have failed. But it is not a few pounds more benefit the poor need but a job, skill or opportunity. The welfare state is not working in its present form. Our mission is to modernise it."

He also has some hard words for the left. Mr Blair writes: "If people on the left continually describe it [Labour's programme] as a monstrous sell-out, it will undermine enthusiasm for change. This is the usual unholy alliance between Tory propaganda and parts of the left that I have witnessed all my political life."

However, amid the continuing fall-out from last week's shadow Cabinet reshuffle, the new shadow Green minister, Michael Meacher, was being hailed as the unexpected left-wing hero of the shake-up when it emerged that he had turned down Mr Blair's first job offer. Mr Meacher, one of the party's few ex-ministers and until last week the Employment spokesman, was offered the job of shadowing the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Roger Freeman, but declined. Eventually he accepted the higher-profile Environmental Protection portfolio.

Mr Meacher's stand was contrasted by some left-wingers with Ms Short's decision to accept Overseas Development, widely regarded as a demotion from her job at Transport. Some left-wingers believe that had Ms Short stuck to her guns and refused to move, the combination of her and Mr Meacher blocking the leader's wishes could have resulted in a different outcome.

Her defenders argued that she put the party's interests before her personal concerns and came under more pressure than Mr Meacher. She was also said to have negotiated a firm pledge that her post would lead to a separate Cabinet job and department for Overseas Development in a Labour government. Mr Blair's reshuffle of junior positions is expected to reward traditionalists as well as modernisers. From the left, Ian McCartney and Peter Hain may get promotion to Employment and Transport respectively.