TONY Blair has urged Labour leadership candidates to concentrate on winning elections rather than coming up with ways to "trend on Twitter". The former Prime Minister also told the three remaining hopefuls they should not engage in a "culture war" over transgender rights by signing pledges on the issue, and admitted any one of them would be a "significant improvement on Jeremy Corbyn".
Speaking this morning at King's College in London, Blair vowed to keep his own preferred candidate close to his chest out of fear of doing them "damage", he told the audience this morning.
In his strongest intervention yet in the race to succeed Mr Corbyn, the former leader said the party would need a "head to toe renewal" to win power again.
"We can be clear and radical and still in the centre," argued Mr Blair, who led New Labour for 13 years.
With his wife Cherie Blair and youngest son Leo watching on he said the party had "too often been a failure" as a competitor at elections, following its streak of four election losses in a row.
Touching on a host of topics during a session to mark Labour's 120th anniversary, he dismissed talk of Labour campaigning to rejoin the European Union, and called for a "progressive coalition" with liberal parties.
Asked about the leadership contest, Mr Blair said that whoever wins the race out of shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir, Lisa Nandy and shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey would be a "significant improvement" on the outgoing Mr Corbyn.
The Islington North MP announced he was stepping down after leading the party to its worst election defeat since 1935 at the December poll.
Mr Blair said: "I don't want to damage anyone by supporting them so I have made up my mind that I am not going to give an opinion on
0 Comments