France ‘has crystal clear objective to weaken City’

Tony Blair has said he feels “sorry” for Theresa May as she is surrounded by people waiting to “throw her off the ledge”.

The former prime minister said he believed Mrs May has the “best interests of the country at heart”, although he reiterated he strongly disagrees with her about Brexit.

In a Sunday TV interview, Mr Blair, asked if he feels any sympathy for the Prime Minister, said: “Yeah, I do, of course, because I know what it’s like to do the job.

“I think it’s a very unsatisfactory situation where you’ve got the Prime Minister surrounded by people who are just waiting for the moment they decide to throw her off the ledge. I think there’s something a little unseemly about all of it really.

“And I do feel sorry for her because she is somebody who has got the best interests of the country at heart, it’s just that I profoundly disagree with her about Brexit.

“I would just like to see more leadership and less followership.”

Mr Blair also said it is “possible now that Brexit doesn’t happen”, adding it is “absolutely necessary that it doesn’t happen” due to the economic and political “damage” it is doing to the UK.

He said Labour is “providing the opposition up to a point” but he would like to see the party “go further” over Brexit. France is actively seeking to exploit Brexit to disrupt and degrade Britain’s lucrative financial sector, a senior City representative has warned.

Former Foreign Office minister Jeremy Browne, who acts as the City of London’s envoy on Brexit, said the French see the British as “adversaries” in the forthcoming withdrawal negotiations.

He said his talks in Paris have been “the worst I have had anywhere in the EU”, with the French open about their desire to see the UK weakened.

Following a visit to the French capital earlier this month, Mr Browne said the mood had been made “more giddy and more assertive” by the election of president Emmanuel Macron.

His comments will reinforce fears among critics of Brexit that other EU countries will 0 Jeremy Browne said talks in Paris were ‘worst in EU’ exploit the UK’S withdrawal to take away lucrative business.

In a memorandum leaked to a Sunday newspaper, Mr Browne, who met banking chiefs, senior politicians and diplomats, wrote: “They are crystal clear about their underlying objective: the weakening of Britain, the ongoing degradation of the City of London. The meeting with the French Central Bank was the worst I have had anywhere in the EU.”