Tony Blair sees himself as a national leader rather than a tribal politician. Like Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s prime minister governs at a distance from his party. She saw the Conservative leadership as the vehicle for the radical individualism that transformed British politics during the 1980s. In his effort to build a new social democratic settlement, Mr Blair shows still greater disdain for Labour ideology than she for Tory tradition.

Both leaders won three successive election victories by reaching deep into the political territory of their opponents. But it carried a price. The then Mrs Thatcher eventually perished at the hands of her own party. This week it was Mr Blair’s turn to discover how distance can harden into dangerous estrangement.