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.

I agree that some people claim they are being antizionist when they are actually being antisemitic, and this is very wrong.

Not everyone conflates the two though, and I didn't read that post as doing so.

I don’t disagree with much of what you say. But the question was is he “far right”? The answer is no. By lumping all people who are to the right of what one considers to be the centre as “far right” we risk not noticing the creep of the actual far right into the mainstream which is a thing we must be vigilant against. Words matter!

Yes, but in the other direction.

We don't tax billionaires but we do expect people with health needs who cannot work for them to survive a cost of living crisis.

This.

What he did to Iraq was a war crime.

His supporters simply wanted to kill Muslims because of some right wing fever dream obsession about women not being allowed to show their faces.

I didn't realise Blair was pro Brexit - makes sense though.

What utter bollocks.

Bombing Muslim countries is the opposite of anti racism.

Also, not believing in climate change is usually a sign that someone is far right - of which racism is the core identity.

The only way we can do anything about climate change is get rid of fossil fuels entirely.

If you'e not calling out Reform then you're with Reform - to paraphrase Tony Blair!

Correct.

He is a centrist. That's why he could win elections. Eg: "tough on crime tough on the causes of crime". An election winning slogan.

He portrayed himself as a centrist to win elections but actually his core identity is far right - look at Iraq, Trump, climate change, welfare etc

He is indeed a centrist. I can't believe that anyone genuinely believes he is far right. It's like calling someone with some left leaning views a Communist. As referenced upthread, conflating views you don't like with extremist views is a very dangerous thing to do. How can you call out the genuine fat right when you're claiming Blair shares their views?

This

None of those things are far right. Do you know what far right actually means?

Do you actually understand the term Far Right, OP? Because I’m laughing here that it seems amongst a certain cohort of the population anyone who isn’t worshipping at the altar of the Labour Party is now automatically labelled ‘Far Right’.

Blair, like almost every single one of them, has few genuine political convictions and zero moral compass.

He speaks up for what’s in Tony’s best interests and always has done, and would have played the entire spectrum of political affiliations in whichever direction was most likely to get him elected.

He is the single greatest disappointment of any person I’ve ever voted for, and and given his continuous betrayals of the UK’s interests in order to safeguard his personal relationships in the US and protect his future connections and earnings, I can’t understand why anyone is surprised at this. He’s no better than fucking Farage.

He is/was shit as the Middle East "peace envoy"! Just look at the state of it all?

Bush's poodle.

I don't agree with Blair's stance on Iran but you're really suggesting that going to war with any Islamic country for any reason is always racist? Ok...

And being against net zero policies doesn't automatically equate to not believing in climate change.

If you read Blair's actual stance, he criticises net zero policies for being unrealistic and instead favours technological innovation. So he recognises the need for change, he just has a different idea for how to achieve it.

It doesn't help anyone to throw around misrepresentations rather than actually understand and engage with the arguments.

TB was always a centrist. It's why he got voted in for 2 terms. The country generally does not like far right or far left PM's. Nothing he has suggested seems far right to me. Working with closest allies is very sensible.

Of course he doesn’t seem far right to you - you’re a Reform voter.

The man’s an idiot. Him and his horrible money grabbing wife should shut up.

Meanwhile, I see we are all now paying for the Oran war at a rate of £221 a year via our energy bills.

This thread is magnificent. Rick from The Young Ones rides again!

I thought it's more citizen smith tbh.

Fair. The Mumsnet Popular Front.