By Nick Assinder BBC News Online political correspondent

Blair received only lukewarm response

He is not widely viewed as one of the family and often looks out of place, even uncomfortable in front of this crowd.

So it should probably come as no surprise that his low key, chummy performance at the TUC won only the most polite of responses from delegates.

The conference heard him insist he was not going to renege on the pledges on equality, workers rights and pensions he made at the Warwick policy forum.

But they were far from overcome with excitement or gratitude. This time there was an almost palpable sense of judgement being suspended.

Recruiting officer

The prime minister - who has previously used the conference to speak over the heads of the delegates to the wider electorate - was in almost intimate mode.

Yes, it might have appeared he had been distracted by international affairs but now he was back to concentrate on the country's needs, he declared.

Brown is seen as more union-friendly

He spoke warmly about the movement's history and its achievements. He even cast himself as a recruiting officer, suggesting people might actually want to join a union.

He certainly insisted there would be no return to the bad old days of secondary action and flying pickets - not that that is on the agenda for most unions at the moment.

But the overall tone was all about partnership, cooperation and shared values. And that awful phrase "the social partners".

He presented delegates in the Brighton conference centre with a notably different prime minister from the one they have come to expect.

Vital poll

There was no lecturing, threatening or casting aside. And there was absolutely no reference to the "forces of conservatism" or "wreckers".

This year, he was at the TUC conference in a pre-election attempt to ensure the unions and their members stay on side through that vital poll.

He reminded delegates of just what the government had already done for them in the shape of the minimum wage, workplace rights, employment and so on.

And, as usual, he reminded them how well the economy was doing under Labour.

The trouble, of course, is that many union members believe those advances have come from "their man" Gordon Brown.

Done enough

Yet, in a break with tradition, the prime minister reeled off the achievements without once mentioning his chancellor of the exchequer by name.

The prime minister must just be hoping that he has done enough to ensure they give him the benefit of the doubt one more time.

He normally goes out of his way to praise his "brilliant" chancellor. Not this time.

Those looking for signs of the strain between the two men will have noted that down.

But the main purpose of this exercise was for the prime minister to start patching up his tattered relationship with the union movement.

He probably succeeded in striking the balance between offering an olive branch without backing away from his planned reforms of the public services.

But this change of tone did not bring an immediate thaw from delegates.

The prime minister must just be hoping, however, that he has done enough to ensure they give him the benefit of the doubt one more time.