A statesman must run talks, says Blair. Who can he mean?

HE’S made millions travelling around the world dispensing advice, and yesterday Tony Blair hinted that he wants to play a part in the UK’s Brexit negotiations – declaring the job will require ‘serious statesmanship’.

The Labour former prime minister insisted a Eurosceptic ‘Brexit Minister’ would be the wrong choice to lead Britain out of the EU.

‘There is going to be a negotiation of extraordinary complexity where there are a thousand devils in every detail’, he wrote in The Daily Telegraph. ‘This needs serious statesmanship.’

His comments will inevitably be seen as an offer by the former prime minister to play a role in Britain’s departure from the EU.

A committed Europhile, he tried and failed in 2009 to become EU president.

Mr Blair added: ‘Our nation is in peril. To allow us to come safely through this we need to be adult in our politics, to proceed with calm, maturity and without bitterness: because our future as a nation in the world and as the UK itself is at stake.’

He suggested Brexit supporters should ‘reach out’ to people who could get a ‘high level’ sense of what European leaders would be willing to agree.

Mr Blair questioned whether it was ‘really sensible’ to put a pro-Leave minister in charge of Brexit negotiations. He said the lead negotiator must have a ‘high level sense... of the things that might be compromised, the things that are red lines’.

Mr Blair added: ‘The psychology of the other 27 countries is crucial to feel and shape.’

He also condemned Ukip leader Nigel Farage’s mocking outburst in the European Parliament earlier this week, warning the Government not to ‘underestimate the damage’ that it will have caused.