Minister rejects Blair intervention, accusing ex-PM of retreading old arguments – UK politics live
Tony Blair has accused Starmer, Burnham and Streeting of putting Labour’s future at risk amid leadership speculation Good morning. Labour is in the midst of ‘phoney war’ leadership contest. The formal bit has not started yet, but Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting are already actively engaged, Angela Rayner is taking an interest, and Keir Starmer is defending his legacy with renewed vigour. The last thing anyone expected was for Tony Blair to join in. But he has, sort of, with a 5,700-word essay, pu
In his interview on the Today programme, Tony Blair said Labour won the election in 2024 because it was “an acceptable alternative” – not because voters liked what was in its manifesto.
double quotation mark Let’s be clear, I don’t think Labour won the last election because people read the manifesto and said, ‘this is what we want’.
I think people thought that Conservatives have behaved completely unacceptably, and to Keir Starmer’s great credit, the Labour party was an acceptable alternative.
Coverage from 9 sources
- Minister rejects Blair intervention, accusing ex-PM of retreading old arguments – UK politics liveGuardian - World · Andrew Sparrow · May 27, 2026, 8:12 AM
- Blair says Labour won 2024 election because it was ‘acceptable alternative’ – UK politics liveGuardian - World · Andrew Sparrow · May 27, 2026, 8:43 AM
- ‘Choose your direction first’: Blair says Labour needs debate before selecting new leader – UK politics liveGuardian - World · Andrew Sparrow · May 27, 2026, 8:57 AM
- Blair says Labour needs debate before selecting new leader as he criticises Burnham speech – UK politics live
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