With fear running high in establishment circles that Jeremy Corbyn might soon be running the country, Labour’s reactionary-in-chief Tony Blair was trotted out this afternoon to spew yet more unwanted advice.
Speaking in an interview on the BBC’s World This Weekend, Blair mounted yet another attack on Corbyn’s electability by claiming that Tory government would “steam roller” into power on June 9. Apparently the polls have told him so.
Such comments are hardly helpful to Labour’s election campaign.
Adopting this utterly defeatist position, Blair argued that the public must vote solely on the basis of Brexit – even if this means voting for the Tories!
The interviewer asked Blair:
You don’t want screaming headlines that say ‘Tony Blair says vote Lib Dem’; I do, but let’s set that to one side. What you are advocating, would in a lot of cases, mean that people would vote for the Liberal Democrat?
Blair dribbled in response:
What I’m advocating may mean that. It may mean voting Labour. It may mean, by the way, that they vote Tory, for candidates who are prepared to give this commitment.
What I am saying is in fact very, very simple!
What contemptible nonsense. The Tories have carried out acts of unspeakable evil on the people of Britain, and others.
Blair thinks that this is justified because Brexit, he claims, is the “defining issue of our times”. Some may agree with him on this, but how can he suggest that people blithely ignore the years of murderous austerity carried out by the Tories?
Tony Blair must recognise that in making this statement he is putting his membership at risk.
Certainly, one would think that Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) would be interested in him calling for people to vote for the Tories — although given their track record of only expelling Corbyn supporting socialists this seems unlikely to be the case.
But perhaps most revolting of all, in the interview Blair even threatened a return to political life: “I look at the political scene at the moment and I almost feel motivated to go right back into it.”
Doesn’t he know that he is no longer welcome in the Labour Party, the majority of which now regard him as a war criminal?
As long as Corbyn remains at the top of the Labour Party, Blair’s return to politics will never be with a red tie. Although from what he says, maybe Blair now fancies himself in blue.
