Tony Blair has sparked a debate after he issued advice to the Labour Party about how it might achieve electoral success.
In an article for The Times, which originally appeared in a report from the Tony Blair Institute, the former prime minister said the party had lost its working class and centrist vote and that it needed to continue rejecting Corbynism ‘wokeism’ to get it back.
He wrote: “The opposition’s problem is not complex but simple.
“Labour has a cultural problem with many working class voters, a credibility problem with the middle ground, and is seen as for everyone other than the hard working families who feel their taxes aren’t spent on their priorities.
“The leadership should continue to push the far left back to the margins. The country must know there is no question of negotiating the terms of power with them.”
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Blair then gave his views on the culture wars that dominate much of political discourse.
“We should openly embrace liberal, tolerant but common-sensical positions on the ‘culture’ issues, and emphatically reject the ‘wokeism’ of a small though vocal minority,” he added.
Reacting to the column, some people agreed with Blair’s analysis:
Amen! https://t.co/r82uoHoH7t
— Siobhain McDonagh MP (@Siobhain_Mc) November 26, 2021
Wrong on much. Dead right on this. https://t.co/x9zPcRaWO5
— Paul Embery (@PaulEmbery) November 26, 2021
Well, he did win 3 consecutive elections. So yes.
— Abdi (@Abdirahmanooo) November 26, 2021
Tony Blair 👇🏼 on how Labour can win again - policies orientated to the future (technology at the heart) and common-sense approach to “culture” issues 👍🏼 pic.twitter.com/lYngVvkHfQ
— Susan Dalgety (@DalgetySusan) November 26, 2021
Blair at his best. Analysing the situation and presenting practical solutions. Please listen to the only man to win an election for Labour in 50 years.https://t.co/VsVLFdYEHd
— MODERN LABOUR (@modernuklabour) November 26, 2021
But others had reservations:
Keir Starmer's argument that "When business profits, we all do" is a far more right-wing statement than anything articulated by Tony Blair, and is yet another indicator that Starmer intends to run on the most right-wing manifesto in Labour's history in 2024.
— Stats for Lefties (@LeftieStats) November 22, 2021
There is no room, it seems, in British politics, for socialism.
— Leanne Wood 💚💛 (@LeanneWood) November 26, 2021
There is plenty of room in Wales. https://t.co/PIWUDhcztb
Tony Blair thinks Labour can win in the 2020s with the same Thatcher-lite "third way" bollocks he peddled in the 1990s.
— Frank Owen's Legendary Paintbrush 🟨🟥🥀🇵🇸 (@WarmongerHodges) November 26, 2021
New Labour was an establishment con. And no self-respecting socialist will fall for it again.
Tony Blair is on the right and this is him weaponising it, as expected.
— J (@Protanorak) November 26, 2021
Tony Blair may have seemed modern and exciting 25 years ago, but… he’s just a boomer now. He isn’t inspirational, he isn’t admirable, he isn’t innovative. https://t.co/qjCPXAEbJE
— ๖ēຖวค๓iຖ ♈︎♎︎♏︎ (@brcknowles) November 26, 2021
Years after leaving office, the former PM continues dividing opinions.
