British Prime Minister Tony Blair told trade union activists today the ruling Labour Party had to pull together or it would be forced into opposition by a resurgent Conservative Party.
Just days after a rebellion in party ranks forced him to announce he would quit as prime minister within a year, Blair appealed to the union conference to accept the "brutal truth" that government involved tough choices.
"I want to see a Labour Party continue in government. It'll only continue in government if it focuses on policy and accepts that government is a hard, tough business but it is a darn sight better than wasting our time in opposition," he told delegates.
"That is the brutal truth," he added in a tacit recognition of the dangers posed by opposition Conservatives, led by youthful leader David Cameron, and the damage wrought by last week's leadership wrangle.
As he began his address to the conference, in which he urged unions to embrace globalisation, some 20 delegates carrying banners saying "Go Now!" and "Blair Out!" left the hall.
"I'm not prepared to sit in a room and listen to a warmonger and a privateer," said John McDermott, a member of the trade union Unison, who walked out. Other delegates held up banners saying "Troops Out!", referring to Britain's deployment of troops in Iraq.
Mr Blair's announcement on Thursday that he would leave within a year went some way to defuse the leadership row and gave the first indication of a timetable of the handover to his presumed successor, finance minister Gordon Brown.
Mr Brown condemned the walkout by some union activists and urged all union members to support Mr Blair's reforms.
It was Mr Blair's final speech to the annual meeting of the Trades Union Congress, an umbrella organisation of nearly seven million workers in Britain.
Unions have traditionally been Labour's bankroller and make up a third of the Labour electorate that votes for a new leader.
Blair has had a fraught relationship with the unions, but his standing has sunk to new lows over his government's reforms, the war in Iraq and his policies in the Middle East.
Mr Blair's refusal to call for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon outraged many in the Labour Party while his policies on outsourcing parts of the public services to the private sector have angered many in the party's grassroots.