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Tony Blair has launched a Big Conversation with the British public. The prime minister who famously proclaimed that he had no "reverse gear" has now signalled that he does, however, have a "steering wheel" and will allow the electorate to give him some directions.

The tactic of going out into the country and attempting to connect with ordinary voters is normally one that is taken up by battered, bruised and defeated opposition parties. Under the leadership of Neil Kinnock and Roy Hattersley the Labour Party undertook the Labour Listens campaign. This, in the long run, laid the basis for New Labour by forcing party activists to confront precisely how far out of touch they were with the public. William Hague tried the same in launching a Listening to Britain initiative.

For a governing party - and one with a huge majority and a widely expected third term in view - to embark on this kind of political exercise is far more unusual.

Traditionally governments have taken their electoral victory as a mandate to implement their manifestos and consulted only on the detail of implementation rather than on the underlying principles and choices. This has usually worked for a couple of terms - and then governments run out of ideas.

Michael Howard has been quick to dismiss the Labour Party Big Conversation as a Big Con, but in doing so he may have entirely missed the point of what Blair is doing. There is a huge appetite for political conversation expressed across Britain - from single issue groups to university political societies there is a passionate debate being conducted across our country. Yet that energy is all being expressed outside the confines of traditional political parties. Tapping into this enormous reservoir of political commitment could be the key to renewal for Labour. Calling the initiative a conversation rather than a consultation is key to understanding what Blair is engaging in. Consultation is part of the old, top-down politics. Traffic is only one-way - ideas come down and responses are there only to endorse the agreed strategy.

A conversation is based on give and take - listening and responding and returning to issues from varying perspectives. None of the big challenges that face government - from pension provision through cutting greenhouse gases to reducing childhood obesity - can be faced and met without the active co-operation of the public. Opening a long-term conversation with voters may be the key to gaining consent for difficult policy choices. If re-engagement turns out to be re-energising for both government and governed we may be seeing the beginning of a genuinely new phase in British politics.

John McTernan is a political analyst.