London, July 3: The world is lucky to have Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister of India, Tony Blair said today.

The former British Prime Minister paid a warm personal tribute to Singh while receiving the Fenner Brockway Medal on the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Labour Friends of India, an organisation consisting of British parliamentarians.

Brockway was one of the giants of the Labour movement but Blair himself conceded that “he was probably someone who would disagree with most of New Labour”.

The medal was presented to Blair by Peter Mandelson, the business secretary, who said that the former Prime Minister had put Britain’s relationship with India on a new and more realistic footing.

Blair said that although Brockway had been a pacifist — the contrast with Blair who took Britain to war against Iraq could not be greater — “he strongly supported those who actively fought against fascism and where he would have agreed with New Labour is the importance we attach to India.”

It was “a partnership of equals”, stressed Blair, who today runs the Tony Blair Faith Foundation and is also a UN peace envoy for West Asia. “He was a tireless campaigner for (Indian) independence, for anti-colonialism and he did it with courage and integrity.”

Most analysts would agree that Blair was good for India — he had the courage to wear a Jodhpur jacket on one trip to India.

“India is one of the most exciting places in the world today” he said. “The challenges are immense and the number of people in poverty a great problem and challenge for the country. But there is a vitality and spirit of determination and an entrepreneurship and new self confidence about India today that I think is thrilling and a real lesson not just for how India can develop but also a lesson for the whole of the world.”

“I was never in any doubt that this relationship should be put on a completely new footing for a new era,” continued Blair. “I worked very hard at it. I never regretted that work for a single moment.”

Blair’s audience included Labour members of Parliament, including Patricia Hewitt, who is stepping down as member for Leicester West but will now be chairman of the UK India Business Council. As trade and industry secretary for five years in Blair’s cabinet, she, too, gave India high priority.

Today’s function was held at the London headquarters of Deutsche Bank, with Anshu Jain, its global head of global markets, sitting on the platform, alongside Shiv Shankar Mukherjee, the Indian high commissioner; Mandelson; and Barry Gardner, who has succeeded Stephen Pound as chairman of Labour Friends of India.

“It is a relationship I treasure,” said Blair of the India-UK bond.

“I think it is of fundamental importance not just to Britain but to Europe.”

Blair claimed some of the credit for India’s improved relationship with the US.

“I played the part also when I was Prime Minister of constantly saying to America that ‘your relationship with India is an important as any other relationship with any part of the emerging world and where India is today bodes very well for the future’. This is a relationship that I value and it will go from strength to strength.”

He expressed pleasure at the result of the Indian general election.

“I can also say a personal word of congratulation to Manmohan Singh on his re-election. He always was and remains one of my favourite people in politics. We are lucky to have someone of such outstanding calibre not just for India but for the world today.”

As disclosed in The Telegraph, Blair last week revealed that his great hero is Mahatma Gandhi for whom he would personally cook stuffed mushrooms.