We have a government that seems to think that changing the language solves the problem

David Davis Tory chairman

He told an invited audience of academics and think-tank representatives of the core values that lay behind what he called the "third phase" of New Labour.

Labour is publishing five policy documents on Wednesday covering the welfare state, the economy, the NHS, foreign policy, and what it is calling political re-engagement.

Conservative Party chairman David Davis accused Mr Blair of trying to solve real problems by just changing his words.

Speaking at London School of Economics, the prime minister insisted New Labour offered "opportunity for all".

"In all sorts of small ways - from banning handguns, to the equal age of consent, to the trebling of women MPs and the first black ministers and Muslim MPs - the country has a different feel to the harshness of the Thatcher years," he said.

Mr Blair's speech coincides with a meeting between TUC general secretary John Monks and senior Conservatives Michael Howard and David Willetts.

'Progressive consensus'

That comes amid growing discontent within the Labour movement over the government's plans for greater private sector involvement in the public services.

Mr Blair said that during the 1980s and early 1990s Labour had come to represent an organisation that fought against those in power while never gaining power itself.

Dave Prentis says public sector workers want more than a pat on the head

He insisted that the values embraced by New Labour were a continuation of the achievements of the Attlee government of 1945, of the liberal reformers of the 19th century.

"We are changing the basis of British politics," said Mr Blair.

"The centre of gravity is moving in our direction - a new post-Thatcherite progressive consensus is being born and it is one we should be proud of."

'On our knees'

He said that his government remained committed to putting in the cash that the public services were crying out for - but not without reform.

He argued that New Labour current phase of "driving through reform" followed earlier work in becoming electable and laying economic foundations.

"Remember 10 years ago: we were on our knees, out of office and out of hope," Mr Blair said.

"Now look forward 10 years and imagine what could be possible.

"Society that is fairer, more tolerant of people's differences, with prosperity shared, quality public services, more social mobility and less poverty."

Giving credit

Ahead of the speech, Dave Prentis, the boss of the public sector workers union Unison, urged the prime minister to tell public servants how he would deliver on his election pledges.

Public sector workers' anger increased last week amid reports ministers were backtracking on a promise to protect their employment and pension rights when they were contracted out to the private sector.

Mr Prentis said: "Unison members don't want a pat on the head, they want to be told the truth and that what is pledged in public will be carried out by ministers and civil servants in private.

"They will also want to hear that their expertise is valued, that their views have been listened to, that the private sector is not the way forward and that our public services are too valuable to be left to the whim of market forces."

Big Brother lessons

Tory chairman David Davis said Mr Blair was trying to distract the public from things he had got wrong or failed to do.

"We have a government that seems to think that changing the language solves the problem," Mr Davis told BBC Radio 4's World At One.

Peter Bazalgette, creator of the Big Brother television show, argued young people needed to be attracted to politics by new ways of voting.

But that alone was not enough, he argued. More effort also had to go into discussing issues that concerned young voters.