Power without principle is barren, but principle without power is futile. This is a party of government, and I will lead it as a party of government.

Blair frames politics as a balance between moral purpose (“principle”) and the practical capacity to implement it (“power”). He rejects both empty office-holding that lacks ethical direction and idealism that cannot translate into governing outcomes. The second sentence signals a leadership claim: he presents his party as one that must be credible in office—competent, disciplined, and oriented toward administration rather than protest. In Blair’s broader political persona, this kind of formulation underlines a modernizing, pragmatic approach: values matter, but they must be coupled to electoral viability and executive effectiveness to produce real change.