Blair: Party may be lost for ever

TONY Blair has said he does not know whether Labour can ever be ‘taken back’ by moderates after Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership and he hopes it is not ‘lost’.

The former prime minister said: ‘I’ve been a member of the Labour Party for over 40 years. You do feel a strong loyalty and attachment, but at the same time it’s a different party... Can it be taken back? I don’t know.’

His comments were echoed by former home secretary David Blunkett, who said the party was facing ‘irrelevance’ unless there was a rethink of the ‘Corbyn project’.

Mr Blair told the BBC that the row over anti-Semitism that has engulfed the party is ‘ghastly’ and he did not believe it would have continued for so long in the Labour Party he joined.

Yesterday, Mr Corbyn responded to Mr Blair, saying: ‘I’ve fought one election as leader of the party and we had the biggest swing to Labour during that campaign since 1945.’