Indeed, if Mr Mulgan's ideas continue to influence the government, New Labour could eventually take off in some startling new directions.

ECONOMIST: New Labour??s gurus

Mr Blair and other ministers have been taking a close interest in an inquiry into national identity by Demos a think-tank run by Geoff Mulgan, who also works part-time for the Downing Street policy unit.

ECONOMIST: Will New Labour succeed in reinventing Britishness?

Because so much of the best of New Labour, or at least of its rhetoric, can be traced back to Ken Livingstone's GLC - perhaps by no accident, as I would have bumped into at least two of Blair's top advisers roaming the corridors of County Hall: Geoff Mulgan and David Miliband.

BBC: Wainwright: Livingstone led the way