Has Tony Blair shifted far right?

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Tony Blair was always a warmonger with Iraq, but he seems to have gone full on far right / Reform now, criticising Starmer for not jumping in with Trump and the US on Iran.

He's saying we should have let them use our bases straight away and "show up" for America no matter what.

He also said Labour has made mistakes by spending more on welfare, focussing on Net Zero, increasing taxes on businesses..

Has he completely lost the plot? This sounds like proper far right policy to me.

I used to think Blair was centre-ground New Labour, but this feels like he's shifted hard right. In fact it's giving me proper far right / racist vibes.

Absolutely, I voted for him in 1997, and again, and would vote for him again now rather than any of the current offering.

I voted for his government in 97 too, the scales fell from my eyes within weeks when he sent Harman out squirming to cut single parent benefits. I continued to vote Labour and have done ever since but that was pretty much despite Blair. I’d never vote for a government led by him again, thankfully I’ll never be asked to.

The telling thing about his essay is that he offers no suggestions as to how economic growth might be achieved in a completely different political and economic landscape from the one in 1997 to 2007. He’s made it clear that if he’d been PM we’d have joined Trump in Iraq. Essentially he’s learned nothing.

They are supposedly great haters of bigotry but often speak of (for example) white people, or holders of balanced political views, or people who criticise benefits culture, or sex realists, or Jewish people, in the most bigoted manner imaginable.... as if these people were no better than fascists. As we see on this thread, very very clearly

Would you like to give examples of where you have seen the above on this thread?

You might agree or disagree with Blair but he is clear in his belief that growth will follow an investment in ai technologies and that, while it comes with opportunity and perils, as did the industrial revolution, being on the backfoot of its inevitability will leave us economically perished.

I mean, he's not even my cup of tea, but I listened long enough to hear him say that.

Anyone can say the future is AI, it’s facile.

Well, you can accuse him of many things, but he has definitely put his money where his mouth is on this one.

Sure - the thread op is a fine example

'I used to think Blair was centre-ground New Labour, but this feels like he's shifted hard right. In fact it's giving me proper far right / racist vibes.'

God knows he’s got enough of it. He hasn’t risked a penny.

This is the future Blair is so keen on.

Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters faced severe backlash and regulatory scrutiny after describing the replacement of staff with artificial intelligence as swapping out "lower-value human capital"

Its what business wants & the company that does it first, sees share prices increase.

...and we wonder why productivity is so low, staff moral across many sectors in the UK is terrible.

As said, anyone can spout "Increase growth"

That is not bigotry, it is a (admittedly rather daft) view of Blair.

I talked about e.g. calling balanced political views far right. you asked for an example from this thread. I gave you one.

OpenAI Halts Stargate UK Data Centre Project Over Energy Costs and Copyright Row https://share.google/ZI9NycK8WhK2951mi

Not just Blair, but Starmer too. Just Starmer can barely tie his shoes nevermind run a country.

Blair said cut immigration, cut welfare, cut worker rights, make Brexit work...stay out of the EU.

Not so long ago, that was the language of Reform.

Now that doesn't make Blair "far right" as he doesn't actually believe any of this, he says what he thinks some people want to hear and his latest essay is clearly an attempt to make sure Labour don't win again in 2029 (not that atm its likely)

No you said:

They are supposedly great haters of bigotry but often speak of (for example) white people, or holders of balanced political views, or people who criticise benefits culture, or sex realists, or Jewish people, in the most bigoted manner imaginable.... as if these people were no better than fascists. As we see on this thread, very very clearly

Calling Blair far right is daft, but it is not criticising him in the "most bigoted manner imaginable."

He doesn't believe we should cut welfare an invest in big projects that encourage growth, he's just hoodwinking the electorate with common sense?

I find it really interesting that posters who are vociferous in their criticism of the current government are suddenly eulogising about an intervention of a former Labour PM because it fits their narrative.

Not the narrative but the policies. The policies are reasonable. Of course I like them. I like them when Badenoch says them and I'm not so blinded by personality or politics that I dislike them with a red rosette.

Comments on this thread are becoming ridiculous. You may not like Starmer, but he has led this country really well against the whims of Trump. He’s a good man. This type of reductionist language is why this country is in such a mess. No objective, balanced thinking and debate about the best way to achieve a better future.

Aren’t you? Really?🤔

I don't disagree with you but IME many principled people in politics eg Corbyn are also purists and completely impractical when it comes to the real world.
I'll take pragmatism over purity any day.

Are you quite well?

Perfectly, thank you. I’m not blind either, I can read what you post elsewhere.

Great post, thank you. I’m going to nick a few of your phrases “grievance positioning and emotional, moralistic rhetoric to flatten engagement i to really important matters”. You’ve said it so well, thank you.

Well from a left wing perspective the CEO of Apple or Microsoft being paid many multiples of what say an 18 year old in a fish and chip shop is simply "unfair".

If you challenge this on say value then you will normally get an emotive response back of say "who adds more value to society a paediatric nurse or a city banker". Or uninformed personal prejudice "that all the bosses of say Apple do is go on fancy lunches and try to screw over their underpaid workers ".

You have to understand that the left wing (both on politics and economics) is emotion based - being "nice and fair".

Whereas right wing politics is based more on logic and reality. It's the classic heart over head divide.

Where else have I said that I disagree with Blair's policy proposals or his assessment of the precarious status of things, as they stand? I haven't.

I don't like Starmer. Where is the hypocrisy here? Or is character assassination from the left so entrenched it is a universal tool used unsparingly for anyone who disagrees with you?