Luckily today I didn’t have to express regret at the deaths of more soldiers in Iraq. Nor did I have the luxury of batting aside a stupid question with the line, “I think I’m really not bothered about that one.”

I’m trying to leave with everything done, he got to walk out with the following (amongst others) left undone :

• on sleaze Blair said in October 1994 “I support the Prime Minister’s establishment of the Nolan inquiry into standards of conduct in public life, but its remit is narrow. In at least one crucial respect it is seriously flawed, as the funding of political parties is excluded from investigation”. As he leaves he has admitted exploiting a loophole in the party funding rules he introduced after coming to power in 1997 to secure £14 million in “secret” loans to fund Labour’s last general election campaign.

• on the economy Blair said “New Labour will be wise spenders not big spenders… New Labour will establish a new trust on tax with the British people.” As he leaves office economists have calculated the tax burden is now rising at £1 million a minute. This equates to an income of £490 billion for last year, compared with £271 billion when Mr Blair took office.

• on health Blair said in 1996 “No more hospitals fighting hospitals. No more doctor competing with doctor. No more bogus red tape and expensive bureaucracy”. Government figures show that the cost of bureaucracy in the NHS rose by £1.3 billion between 2000 and 2004. At the same time the number of administrators employed leapt by a third from 159,141 to 211,690.

• On dentistry Tony Blair said at the 1999 Labour Party conference, “And everyone with the chance to go back on the NHS to see their dentist. And working with the British Dental Association, everyone within the next two years will be able once again to see an NHS dentist just by phoning NHS Direct. So much more to do, but it will be done”. Today one in 10 dentists has rejected a new NHS contract outright and many more have registered objections. Recently 3,000 people queued to register for a new NHS dental surgery in Ceredigion, Wales.

I’ve often been frustrated and angry. He managed to wage war (perhaps justly and unjustly) committing British forces to action more often, and in more conflicts, than any Prime Minister since 1945.

He got generous expressions of good will from his colleagues. I doubt I will get that.

He walked into another job - I’m waiting for a call from my manager…..