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Tony Blair: Labour hopefuls must offer radical change | |
(about 3 hours later) | |
Tony Blair has questioned whether the contenders for the Labour leadership offer the "fundamental" change the party needs to get back into power. | |
The former Labour PM said the party was facing a "make-or-break moment" after losing four general elections in a row and required "head-to-toe renewal". | |
Rebecca Long-Bailey, Lisa Nandy and Sir Keir Starmer are competing to succeed Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader. | Rebecca Long-Bailey, Lisa Nandy and Sir Keir Starmer are competing to succeed Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader. |
Party members start voting next week, with a winner announced on 4 April. | |
Speaking in London, Mr Blair - prime minister from 1997 to 2007 - said Labour's manifesto for December's general election had been unpopular and many voters had judged it to be "incredible". | |
He called the party's Brexit policy ahead of the election "bizarre", but added that it should not change position and immediately campaign for the UK to rejoin the EU. | |
"You've got to give [Brexit] a chance to be done," he added. | |
At the King's College London event marking the 120th anniversary of the founding of Labour, Mr Blair acknowledged that his advice was not "particularly welcome to today's party". | |
He said he would not be endorsing any of the leadership candidates, as he did not want to "damage anyone by supporting them". | |
But he said: "When you really look objectively at our position, fundamental reconstruction is what you need. | |
"Now, I don't think you can tell whether any of the leadership people, or the people likely to win, are going to do that or not right now." | |
'Got things wrong' | |
Ms Nandy has said the party must be "honest" about the failings of New Labour if it is to persuade voters to acknowledge the party's past achievements. | |
Speaking on ITV's Good Morning Britain, she said Mr Blair's time in office had been "game-changing". | |
She added: "But to earn the right for a hearing with the public about the things we got right, we've also got to be honest about the things we got wrong." | |
Ms Nandy has previously argued that under Mr Blair, who led Labour from 1994 to 2007, the party "tacitly accepted that four decades of economic conservatism was a bigger priority than people". | |
During his London speech, Mr Blair argued that Labour would have performed better at the election with a "more moderate" leader, but required more far-reaching change in the long run. | |
He added that the party should "redefine what radical means" in the context of technological changes, and needed to build a "whole new progressive alliance". | |
Mr Blair also warned the party against entering into a "culture war with the right" on issues such as trans rights - and said he would not sign up to a pledge to expel party members who have expressed "transphobic" views. | |
Wigan MP Ms Nandy and shadow business secretary Mrs Long-Bailey have said they would sign the 12-point plan by the Labour Campaign for Trans Rights. | |
Sir Keir, the party's Brexit spokesman, has not signed the pledge but has committed to a different series of promises from LGBT Labour, a party affiliate group. |