Mr Blair, soaring presidentially above both Parliament and party, hasno such worries: the biggest rebellion hehas endured so far the defection of 37 members who disliked the cut in welfare benefits for lone parents was at most an inconvenience, never a danger.
He thinks Labour's presence will soothe international worries about his hardline pronouncements (he has said there will be no Palestinian state for now, no withdrawal from the Golan Heights, and no partition of Jerusalem) and especially about his alliance with Avigdor Lieberman's extreme nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party.