Tony Blair mocks the modern-day Labour Party and tells his critics he is the only living former leader to have won an election for the party in 120 YEARS
- Tony Blair today delivering speech marking 120th anniversary of Labour Party
- Mr Blair will admit his advice is not ‘particularly welcome’ in the current party
- But he will point out to his critics he is the only living leader to win an election
Tony Blair mocked his left-wing Labour today, pointing out he is the party’s only living former leader to have won a general election since it was established 120 years ago.
The former prime minister used a speech this morning to mark the creation of the Labour Party to criticise the current state of the political vehicle which he led to three election victories.
He admitted his advice is not ‘particularly welcome’ in the current version of the party but warned the three leadership candidates battling to replace Jeremy Corbyn that they must listen to him if Labour is to return to power.
He also attack Mr Corbyn for advocating policies which are ‘hopelessly out of date’ and not suitable for addressing the problems of the 21st Century, warning that ‘Labour’s aim is not to trend on Twitter or to have celebrities temporarily fawn over us, our task is to win power’.
‘Our latest defeat was entirely predictable and predicted,’ he said in his latest savage criticism of his successor.
‘We went into the election with a leader with a -40 per cent approval rating on political ground chosen by our opponents and a manifesto promising the earth but from a planet other than Earth.’
His comments come just days before voting in the final stage of the Labour leadership race is due to begin with Sir Keir Starmer, Rebecca Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy braced for a showdown in a ballot of party members.
The former prime minister used a speech this morning to mark the creation of the Labour Party to criticise the current state of the political vehicle which he led to three election victories
Lisa Nandy today refused to name Mr Blair as one of the party’s greatest ever leaders despite his three election wins
He also attack Jeremy Corbyn for advocating policies which are ‘hopelessly out of date’ and not suitable for addressing the problems of the 21st Century
Mr Blair called for Labour to undergo a ‘head-to-toe renewal’ and embrace a ‘radical’ new mandate to help it win power within the next decade.
The 66-year-old, who won three elections for the party between 1997 and 2005, told an audience at King’s College London: ‘I thought hard about taking stock on the Labour Party’s 120th anniversary – it’s not as if my advice is particularly welcome to today’s party.
‘But then it occurred to me that there are only two people born in the last 120 years who have actually won an election for Labour. And alas Harold Wilson is long gone.
‘Out of 120 years, Labour has been in power for just over 30 of them. That is a stark statistic.
‘We now have another Tory Government for five years, and possibly for 10.
‘Were that to happen, Labour would have been in office less than a quarter of its existence.’
Voting in the Labour leadership contest will begin on Monday and will close on April 2 with a winner announced on April 4.
The contest was triggered after Jeremy Corbyn led the party in December to its worst set of general election results since the 1930s and immediately set out his intention to quit.
Mr Blair warned that whoever takes over from Mr Corbyn must ditch the party’s current policy agenda.
‘The problem is that we have defined radical politics by a policy agenda which is hopelessly out of date, with ‘moderate’ politics being just a milder version of it,’ he is expected to say.
‘We must redefine what radical means. We’re living through a technology revolution which is the 21st century equivalent of the 19th century Industrial Revolution.
‘It will change everything and therefore everything should change including radical reorientation of government.
‘This is the context in which we tackle inequality, promote social justice and redistribute power.’
All three leadership challengers have been reluctant to praise Mr Blair’s leadership of the party despite his electoral success.
Rebecca Long-Bailey and Sir Keir Starmer will face off against Ms Nandy in the final round of the leadership contest
Today Ms Nandy refused to name him as one of the party’s greatest ever leaders.
Asked the question on ITV’s Good Morning Britain programme, she said: ‘I think in all honesty there have been a lot. So Attlee is the one that we always talk about.
‘Barbara Castle was the great leader that never was and if she had been a man I am sure she would have become leader of the Labour party.’
When it was pointed out to Ms Nandy that she had made no mention of Mr Blair she said that she had become an MP ‘partly out of frustration’ with New Labour.
She said she was ‘full of admiration’ for some of the last Labour government’s achievements but added: ‘The assessment of Tony Blair’s time in office is that it was game changing, it was important, but to earn the right to a hearing about the things we got right we have also got to be honest about the things we got wrong.’