Blair warns that Starmer needs more radical ideas

SIR TONY BLAIR has appeared to criticise Sir Keir Starmer’s lack of ideas for Labour as he attacked a “gaping hole” in British politics.

The former prime minister said Britain found itself at an “inflexion point” and “not in good shape” as political parties lack solutions to both domestic and global crises.

Sir Tony accused the Conservatives and Jeremy Corbyn of “extremes” which had drained the political centre ground of momentum and ideas. “We are at serious risk of being relegated from the Premiership group of nations unless we take strong action,” he said.

“We are living through a period of enormous change and we are not in good shape. We need a clear plan for the future. We need ideas for the future.”

In an interview on The Rest Is Politics podcast – hosted by his former spin doctor Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart, the ex-conservative MP – Sir Tony warned politics was “bust unless there is a change of attitude”.

“Jeremy Corbyn took over the Labour Party, the Conservative Party became a Brexit Party,” he said. “The strong centre ground that you need to drive practical radical solutions was weakened. There has been a gaping great hole where ideas should be.

“I support what Keir Starmer is doing. He has moved the party significantly, the Wakefield by-election result indicated that. The central problem is what are the ideas that are going to stop this relegation, and put [the UK] on an upward path?”

At a conference hosted by the New Statesman magazine, Sir Keir said Conservative MPS should be “pretty worried” after his party’s by-election victory in Wakefield. But the Labour leader admitted: “Of course there’s more policy that we need to put on the table and we’re doing that into conference and beyond conference.”