In all the frenzied speculation about when Tony Blair will resign, or be forced to resign, as Labour leader and prime minister, too little attention is paid to his concept of leadership and to the kind of leadership a democratic political party and country needs.

The political editor of the BBC referred to Mr Blair this month as "the boss of the Labour party" - light-heartedly, no doubt, to get in an aside about what happens when the boss returns from holiday. The trouble is that, from early in his leadership, Mr Blair has acted as if that were true. Yet, paradoxically, the prime minister has had to cede responsibility for large swaths of policy to the most powerful (and successful) chancellor of the exchequer in living memory. Overcompensating, Mr Blair has tried to make policy, especially foreign policy, from 10 Downing Street to a damaging extent.