BLAIR’S TOXIC EMBRACE
Election intervention backfires on Ed as ex-PM says the people can’t be trusted with EU vote
TONY Blair’s dramatic intervention in the election backfired last night after he said the British people could not be trusted to decide if they want to stay in the EU. The former Prime Minister was widely condemned after saying that membership of the European Union was ‘too important’ to be put to a public vote.
In a carefully choreographed speech, Mr Blair praised Ed Miliband for show- ing ‘real leadership’ in refusing to offer voters a say on the issue.
But Mr Blair did not deign to appear on a stage alongside the Labour leader – about whom he is said to harbour grave doubts – and refused to endorse any of his other policies. His ringing endorsement of the EU also left him at odds with Mr Miliband, who recognises it is hated by millions of voters.
And in highlighting Labour’s refusal to offer a referendum, he presented an open goal for the Tories, who are the only party to commit to a vote.
Speaking in his former Sedgefield constituency, Mr Blair said of the EU debate: ‘The Prime Minister will be spending more energy, will have more sleepless nights about it, be more focused on it than literally any other issue.
‘He knows the vastness of the decision. And, following the Scottish referendum, he knows the perilous fragility of public support for the sensible choice. This issue, touching as it does the country’s future, is too important to be traded like this.’
In a furious response, David Cameron said Mr Blair was ‘the last person’ who should be lecturing the country on Europe. He said Mr Blair had presided over a massive transfer of power from Westminster to Brussels and broken his own promise to hold a referendum.
Mr Cameron told the Mail: ‘It is deeply condescending to say that the British
people can’t be trusted to make a choice. I believe they can be and they should be.
‘Tony Blair has just highlighted that there is a choice: there will be no renegotiation, no referendum with Ed Miliband. I have said I want to stay in a reformed EU – but we need to get that referendum and the choice will be for the British people, not for me.’
He pointed out that, as Prime Minister, Mr Blair passed a series of treaties that ceded power to Brussels. Mr Cameron said: ‘This is the man who passed the Amsterdam Treaty, the Nice Treaty, who negotiated the EU constitution, promised a referendum and didn’t deliver a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. He is the last person who should be giving this lecture.
‘Frankly the British people need a choice. They haven’t had one since 1975, and all these treaties have been passed since – including many when Tony Blair was prime minister.
‘It gives me the opportunity to hammer home the message: if you want that referendum, want a choice, it’s only by having me as Prime Minister.’
Mr Blair said Mr Cameron’s commitment to hold a referendum was designed to appease Tory Eurosceptics and Ukip voters.
He said: ‘I believe passionately that leaving Europe would leave Britain diminished in the world, do significant damage to our economy and, less obviously but just as important to our future, would go against the very qualities that mark us out still as a great global nation.’
The uncertainty of a referendum would cause ‘ chaos’ for business, and if voters opted for exit there would be ‘the most intense period of business anxiety’ since the Second World War, he added.
Mr Blair also rounded on the ‘mean-spiritedness’ of Ukip, adding: ‘We know what this movement to wrench us out of Europe is based on. You can see it whenever (Nigel) Farage swiftly moves the debate to immigrants. National pride is a great thing. Nationalism, as a political cause in the hands of parties like Ukip, is almost always ugly.’
Mr Blair – who confirmed he would have accepted the post of President of the European Council had it been offered – insisted he supported Mr Miliband ‘100 per cent’. Asked why he was not sharing a platform with him, Mr Blair said Mr Miliband was campaigning in the West Country. Mr Miliband would say only that Mr Blair could ‘speak for himself’ and had done so ‘very well today’.
Chancellor George Osborne said it was clear Mr Blair intended to do the ‘absolute minimum’ to help Labour. He added: ‘It’s interesting to see Tony Blair turning up. I suspect he is going to do the absolute minimum required not to be blamed for Labour’s defeat when it comes.’
Home Secretary Theresa May said the most interesting thing about Mr Blair’s intervention was the fact that he had been wheeled out at all. ‘It shows the weakness of Ed Miliband that Labour has had to bring Tony Blair into the fray at this point,’ she said.
Matthew Elliott, chief executive of Business for Britain, a Eurosceptic campaign group, said: ‘Tony Blair was consistently out of touch with the public about Britain’s relationship with the EU when he was PM, and little appears to have changed.’
Salman Shaheen, of Left Unity, a new left-wing party, said: ‘If Miliband wants to reconnect with Labour’s base, it’s time to ditch the toxic legacy of Tony Blair.’
Andrew Hawkins, of the Mail’s pollster, ComRes, cast doubt on suggestions that Labour might profit from Mr Blair’s ‘lingering stardust’.
He added: ‘More Britons are positive about the EU than Mr Blair himself. How much more can Tony Blair add on the issue?’