Keir Starmer risks fresh Labour civil war as he lashes himself to Tony Blair’s legacy at joint event – with ex-PM trolling that Lefties only know ‘how to lose’
- Sir Tony Blair heaps praise on the Labour leader at a London conference event
Sir Tony Blair today warned Sir Keir Starmer he will face an ‘inexhaustible supply of advice on how to lose an election’ as Labour seeks a return to power.
The ex-prime minister, in an apparent dig at Labour’s left-wing amid a party row over benefits policy, gave his view in an appearance with Sir Keir at a London conference.
Sir Tony heaped praise on the current Labour leader for how he had altered the party since Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership ended with a disastrous defeat at the 2019 general election.
He also suggested Britain would be in ‘good hands’ if Sir Keir entered No10 as PM.
But Sir Tony’s enthusiastic acclaim of Sir Keir’s leadership could risk fresh tensions between the Labour leader and his internal party critics.
Sir Tony is often viewed as a ‘hate figure’ on Labour’s left-wing and has frequently clashed with Mr Corbyn.
Sir Tony Blair warned Sir Keir Starmer he will face an ‘inexhaustible supply of advice on how to lose an election’ as Labour seeks a return to power
The ex-prime minister, in an apparent dig at Labour’s left-wing amid a party row over benefits policy, gave his view in an appearance with Sir Keir at a London conference.
Sir Tony heaped praise on the current Labour leader for how he had altered the party since Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership ended with a disastrous defeat at the 2019 general election
The joint event with Sir Tony and Sir Keir at the ‘Future of Britain’ conference, organised by the ex-PM’s thinktank, came as MPs voiced anger over a benefits U-turn.
Sir Keir has ditched a pledge to scrap the two-child benefits cap – which was introduced by former Tory chancellor George Osborne – despite top shadow ministers having previously blasted the measure as ‘heinous’.
The Labour leader this afternoon addressed the row head on as he told his party they were having to make ‘tough decisions’ ahead of the next election.
‘My first reaction is we keep saying collectively as a party that we have to make tough decisions,’ Sir Keir told the London conference.
‘And in the abstract, everyone says, “That’s right Keir”.
‘But then we get into the tough decision, we’ve been in one of those for the last few days, and they say, “We don’t like that, can we just not make that one, I’m sure there is another tough decision somewhere else we can make”.
‘But we have to take the tough decisions.’
He later said Labour has had to make ‘really ruthless’ decisions since he took the reins to ensure the party was in a good place to contest the next election.
Sir Keir’s reversal on the two-child benefits cap has come as he strives to make his party appear responsible with the public finances.
He took a swipe at Liz Truss and her disastrous mini-Budget as he attempted to make his point to his party.
‘Liz Truss tried unfunded commitments,’ he said. ‘And she proved that if you go down that route, you lose control of the economy.’
Before praising his leadership of Labour since taking over from Mr Corbyn, Sir Tony warned Sir Keir: ‘The Labour leader is always in receipt of an inexhaustible supply of advice on how to lose an election.’
The ex-PM later ended their joint appearance by telling Sir Keir: ‘If how far you’ve taken the Labour Party in the last four years is any guide to how far you can take the country, we’ll be in good hands.’
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