Tony Blair has launched a blistering attack on Keir Starmer, Andy Burnham, and Wes Streeting, accusing them of jeopardizing Labour's future by abandoning the center ground. In a 5,700-word essay published Tuesday night, the former prime minister warned that the party's 'almost infinite capacity for self-delusion' makes it likely to lose the next election.
Blair argued for cracking down on welfare spending, scrapping restrictions on oil and gas, and improving relations with Donald Trump. The intervention, highly unusual for a past Labour leader, is expected to provoke fury within the party, where Blair's legacy remains deeply divisive. A senior Labour source accused him of abandoning social democratic values for an agenda with 'no answers.'
However, Blair also cautioned against efforts to oust Starmer, stating that a leadership change is irrelevant without a serious policy debate. He criticized Burnham and Streeting for tax and spending ideas he said had been rejected by responsible governments, calling it a 'perennial delusion' to think moving left while losing seats to the right is viable.
Blair singled out Angela Rayner's employment rights bill, Ed Miliband's net zero drive, the phasing out of oil and gas licenses, and Rachel Reeves' tax increases as key mistakes. He argued these policies create 'headwinds, not tailwinds' for British business. The government should remove obstacles to AI growth, accelerate planning reform, reverse North Sea energy policy, overhaul welfare, and repair ties with Trump's White House.
'Without an agenda of this nature, radical but sensible, Britain will continue its long slide towards relegation from the Premier League of Nations,' Blair wrote. He said Starmer's main problem is not charisma but a lack of grounding, with the government appearing to 'totter in the breeze.'
Blair also criticized proposals from Starmer's would-be successors, noting Streeting's wing appears to advocate EU reentry and capital gains changes rejected by past governments. He dismissed Burnham's alternative as a 'far-left critique' that ignores achievements of the last Labour government.
Blair argued Labour won in 2024 due to distaste for the Conservatives, not its own offer, and lacks a coherent vision. He said seeking a new EU deal from a weak position is nonsensical, and the UK's global standing has eroded since its heyday as a key US ally and European leader.
