Blair: Brexit makes me consider return to politics
TONY Blair said yesterday he “almost feels motivated” to return to frontline politics to fight Brexit – as he urged voters to back pro-European Union candidates of any party.
In a BBC interview, the former Labour prime minister did not rule out returning as an MP and said the Brexit issue is now “bigger than
party allegiance”. Blair, 63, admitted Theresa May is on course for a “landslide” victory on June 8 and warned she and her Tory Eurosceptic pals will use it as a mandate to pursue “Brexit at any cost”.
He said: “I look at the British political scene at the moment and I actually almost feel motivated to go back into it. We’re just allowing ourselves to be hijacked by what is
actually quite a small group of people with a strong ideology.”
Blair said the best approach for pro-Europeans at the general election “may mean” voting Lib Dem in some areas to stop pro-Brexit Tories – but then hastily insisted he was “not going to advocate people vote tactically”.
Doing so would mean he could be expelled from Labour for breaking party rules. He added: “What I’m saying is they should vote on an informed basis on this issue.
“I personally couldn’t support somebody in an election who was going to say, ‘I’m just going to sign up to Brexit at any cost’.
“This is something that is bigger than party allegiance in this particular election.”
His comments infuriated his critics on the Labour left. Matt Zarb-Cousin, who worked until recently as Jeremy Corbyn’s spokesman, said he should be “kicked out of the party”.
His comments came as the Greens became the first party to tactically step aside in a marginal constituency – Ealing in London – to give pro-EU candidate Labour MP Rupa Huq a better chance of success.
We’re being hijacked by a small group with a strong ideology BLAIR