Tony Blair faced a fiery grilling today as he was challenged over why he is calling for another Brexit referendum just two years after the historic vote.
The ex PM is stepping up his campaign for a so-called People’s Vote and lashed the PM’s deal for ‘yielding’ too much to Brussels.
Appearing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, he said another referendum should be held which gives Britons a choice between staying in the EU or having a Boris Johnson-style hard Brexit.
But presenters Susanna Reid and Piers Morgan grilled him on why Remain should even be on the ballot two years after the side lost.
Grilling the ex Labour leader, Susanna said: ‘Why should Remain even be an option on the second referendum? Why isn’t it a choice between May’s deal and an alternative Brexit?
‘Because the whole Remain camp didn’t win that campaign. Why should we re-run that part of the referendum? Why would Brexiteers – people who voted to leave , not feel utterly infuriated that is being re-run?’
Tony Blair (pictured on GMB today) stepped up his campaign for a second Brexit referendum – and said Theresa May’s deal should not be an option on another ballot
Tony Blair said that if there is another referendum then Britons should pick between staying in the EU or having a ‘true’ Brexit advocated by Nigel Farage (pictured, left, in Brussels last week) or Boris Johnson (pictured, right, in the Commons last month)
Mr Blair hit back, saying: ‘I think if you had a referendum and you excluded the possibility of remaining I think your 16-odd million people who voted Remain would feel a great sense of disillusion if they weren’t able to make their case again.’
Piers also chimed in asking: ‘Isn’t that what happens when you lose?’
The ex Labour leader went on: ‘When you lose but the other side are as divided as to what form of Brexit is correct or not the only sensible way is to put it back to people and say, you have had your 30 months of experience, do you want to stay?’
He said there his also a ‘good chance’ Brussels would give the UK more concessions to the UK.
Mr Blair sought to pile fresh pressure on the PM as she faces the toughest eight days of her political career ahead of the crunch Brexit vote, with her premiership hanging by a thread.
She faces a full-blown constitutional crisis over her refusal to publish the full legal advice about her Brexit deal.
While Labour have declared they will call a vote of no confidence in the PM if – as expected – she loses the Brexit vote on December 11.
With the PM on the ropes, arch Remainer Mr Blair appeared on ITV’s Good Morning Britain this morning to say her plan satisfies nobody and has left the UK in ‘stalemate’.
He said: ‘You have now got a position where there is a division in Parliament, in the Government, in fact even in the Cabinet, certainly in the country.
‘And you have two different versions of Brexit on offer, you have got the Brexit version Theresa May is putting forward…
‘The problem with it is that it does not really please the people who advocated Brexit most strongly, and then obviously it doesn’t please people like me either, who wanted to Remain.
‘You have got her version of Brexit. You have got a Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage version of Brexit which is, I would say, a kind of true Brexit, which takes us out of the economic structures of European Union as well as the political structures.
‘So you have got both versions on offer and a stalemate.’
Mr Blair hit back at accusations that he and other anti Brexit campaigners are trying to thwart the will of the people, and insisted a second vote is the only way to end the deadlock.
And he said a second vote should be a choice between a ‘true Brexit’ advocated by Nigel Farage and Mr Johnson, and Remain.
He said: ‘Personally I think the only way to resolve this is to have the version Remain, or alternatively, Leave.
‘But leave on terms that make it clear this is a hard Brexit, you are leaving in a way that those who have most ardently argued “Out” want.’
Mr Blair tried to turn the screw on the Prime Minister just as she faces the toughest week of her political career.
She is desperately trying to drum up support for her hugely controversial Brexit plan amid a barrage of criticism from all sides.
A staggering 101 mutinous Tory MPs have now indicated they will vote down her deal on December 11.
If they all stick to their guns she will suffer a humiliating defeat that could send her premiership crashing down.
Amid this massive opposition, Tory whips have considered dramatically scrapping the vote so the PM can go back to Brussels and plead for more concessions to peel off her critics.
The reports were downplayed by Home Secretary Sajid Javid this morning who said he cannot see the vote being delayed.
But the PM is facing what could turn out to be a full-blown constitutional crisis over her refusal to publish the full legal advice on her Brexit deal.
Mrs May could face being held in contempt of Parliament as Tory rebels unite with the DUP and Labour to demand full legal advice is released.
The Prime Minister is resisting huge pressure to disclose the private opinion Attorney General Geoffrey Cox gave on the package she has thrashed out with Brussels.
The eminent QC and strident Brexiteer was a key figure in forcing the deal through the Cabinet – but there are claims his formal written advice was far bleaker and he warned the UK would be stuck ‘indefinitely’ in the Irish border backstop.
Theresa May (pictured on Saturday at the G20 in Buenos Aires) faces the toughest eight days of her political career ahead of the crunch Brexit vote, with her premiership hanging by a thread
Despite a Commons motion being passed demanding the full document, ministers are insisting they will only release a summary as the full material would break convention and undermine the operation of government.
Mr Johnson today joined condemnation of the refusal, saying it was a ‘scandal’ and pointing out that Mrs May previously called for advice on the Iraq War to be released.
If the government does not cave in by the time Mr Cox makes a statement to the Commons this evening, Speaker John Bercow could launch contempt proceedings – triggering a formal investigation in the PM or her most senior colleagues.
The potential punishments include suspension or expulsion from the House, although they have not been deployed for decades.