Sir Tony Blair has issued a scathing warning to Labour, accusing the party of 'playing with fire' by rowing over Sir Keir Starmer's leadership. In a blistering intervention, the former Prime Minister said the Government lacks a coherent plan and is failing to offer a proper vision for a rapidly changing world.
Blair criticised the party's 'almost infinite capacity for self delusion', arguing that Labour only won its landslide election victory by being an 'acceptable' alternative to the Tories. He stated: 'The world is turning on its axis and today's politicians living in a 24/7 pressure cooker have barely time to recognise the turning, let alone study it.'
The Labour grandee dismissed the notion that the party's problems stem from Starmer's personality or a failure to communicate achievements. Instead, he insisted: 'It is because we don't have a worked-out, coherent plan for the country in a fast-changing world and are in the wrong political position from which we can devise one and win a second term.'
Blair's attack comes after Labour's local election losses triggered internal turmoil, with dozens of MPs calling for Starmer to go and ministers resigning. Despite this, the PM has vowed to fight on. Blair branded the shadow leadership contest between Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting as 'extraordinarily retro', and warned that trying to force the Prime Minister out before establishing a policy direction is not serious.
He called for a shift towards the 'radical centre' and urged the party to learn from its only previous experience of winning a second full term in 120 years. Blair also warned that Britain risks becoming 'marooned on an island of irrelevance' amid global power shifts, and said the UK cannot simply rejoin the EU but must forge a new relationship based on current realities.
