Minister rejects Blair intervention, accusing ex-PM of retreading old arguments – UK politics live

The Guardian World Wednesday 27 May 2026, 07:53 UTC By Andrew Sparrow 1 min read

Key Points

Tony Blair has published a lengthy essay on his thinktank's website, offering his views on the direction of the Labour Party. He criticises current figures, including Keir Starmer, Andy Burnham, and Wes Streeting, suggesting they are jeopardising the party's future. Blair's intervention comes amid ongoing leadership speculation within the Labour Party.

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, published last night on his thinktank’s website, setting out where the former PM thinks his part is going wrong (on most things, it seems) and what he thinks it should do next. Blair, of course, won’t be a candidate in the leadership contest, but ideas matter in politics and this essay is chock-full of them.

Originally published by The Guardian World Read original →

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Minister rejects Blair intervention, accusing ex-PM of retreading old arguments – UK politics live

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