Tony Blair's departure as prime minister should have prompted a fresh start for Labour, but Keir Starmer's government remains in his thrall. The enduring grip of Blairite figures on British politics is evident in recent events: Peter Mandelson's messages dominated Westminster, Tony Blair himself penned an essay, and Alan Milburn released a report on youth unemployment. The Labour leadership battle this summer features Andy Burnham, whom Blair praised, and Wes Streeting, a Blair admirer.
This obsession with Blair is striking. A Guardian analysis found that Blair received three times the media coverage of Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Foreign Secretary Shabana Mahmood combined. A man who left office nearly two decades ago makes more headlines than serving cabinet ministers. Why does this happen?
Blair is not a reclusive figure; in the past two years alone, he has opined on Iran, digital ID, net zero, and more. Yet public appetite for his views is limited: one poll found Boris Johnson considered more worth listening to. His sole audience is the political and media elite.
The reverence for Blairites mirrors an Anglo-Saxon poem, The Ruin, which described ancient Roman ruins as the work of superhuman giants. Today's Labour treats Blair's era as a golden age, but this is a misreading. Blair oversaw the loss of a million manufacturing jobs, a decline in council housing, and a historic financial bubble. As Bryan Gould said of Mandelson, Blair had a vision for winning elections, not for changing society.
Blair left office in 2007 as the credit crunch began, followed by a banking run and financial collapse. That should have prompted a total rethink of political economy and Labour's purpose. Instead, the Blairites offer no reflection. Mandelson's advice to Starmer's team—to embrace knowledge and risk for growth, citing meetings with US fund managers—reflects the same thinking that caused the banking crisis.
Starmer's government is sad and backward-looking, led by a man with the political nous of Rishi Sunak, still scared of Liz Truss's ghost, and beholden to Blairites who themselves lived in Margaret Thatcher's shadow. It is time to break free from this zombie Blairite grip.
