That TUC "joke"

My favourite part of Tony Blair's I'm off speech was his reference to the TUC conference:

The next TUC next week will be my last TUC, probably to the relief of both of us.

This was an excellent joke, but my Times colleague Tim Hames says that it wasn't included merely for comic effect.

Saying that this year would not just be his last Labour conference, but also his last TUC, was part of the Chancellor's coup deal between the old friends. It means that Mr Blair will not be able to resign at the end of next Summer and only let Gordon Brown take over in late September. Instead he has to go with enough time (at the very latest by mid-June) to have a contest and let the new leader take office before the August break.

So while the press reported that this was to be the Prime Minister's last year,  he was actually telling us that it was to be his last 9 months.