Tony Blair, who led Labour as prime minister from 1997 to 2007, has unexpectedly intervened in the party’s ongoing leadership contest. In an essay published Tuesday evening on his think tank’s website, the 72-year-old accuses the leading candidates of abandoning the political center and thus risking the next election. Blair speaks of an “almost infinite capacity for self-deception” within the party.
Blair writes that Labour only won the 2024 election because the party was “an acceptable alternative” — not because voters liked the manifesto. “I don’t think Labour won the last election because people read the manifesto and said, ‘That’s what we want,'” the Guardian quotes from the essay. “People thought the Conservatives had become completely unacceptable, and to Keir Starmer’s great credit, the Labour Party was an acceptable alternative.”
The move comes amid a leadership contest that observers call a “phoney war.” The formal competition has not yet begun, but Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting are already active, Angela Rayner has shown interest, and Keir Starmer is defending his legacy. Blair himself is not a candidate but wants to influence the party’s ideological direction with his essay.
Critics within the Labour Party are likely to dismiss Blair’s call for a “radical center” as vague and meaningless, the Guardian reports, citing party sources. Notably, many of Blair’s arguments could also have come from Kemi Badenoch — an irony that is causing talk in Westminster.
Source: www.theguardian.com
