Has Tony Blair shifted far right?

[WildEnergySupplier]

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.

So, because Blair has the temerity to call out Labour and its client base - the growing number of welfare dependents, he’s ’far right’???

The mind boggles, truly.

Quite simply because of intolerance of the left.

Let's say that you agreed with some right wing policies like something should be done about illegal immigration or believed that women are biological females but maybe disagreed with reducing the number of people claiming PIP. Then the view from other right wing people would be along the lines of "yeah, you'll come round to our thinking in time".

Conversely if you held more left wing views on say increasing taxation, more Government spending, doing more to welcome illegal migrants BUT believed that women are biological females. Then the view from other left wing people is that you are obviously a right far right Nazi fascist.

What I don't understand is that the vast majority of the country doesn't seem to want a Labour leadership challenge. Labour under Starmer was elected to be the Government. Changing the PM will create more uncertainty and cause more economic damage and given the debt constraints I don't see how Burnham could do any better (and most likely worse if he raises taxation).

Personally I would never vote Reform because agree or disagree with their policies they are simply are not credible unfunded populist wish lists. But in the case of Makerfield I hope they win, Starmer stays in power and the focus rightly gets back to growing the economy.

@WildEnergySupplier Do you think war makes people far right? It clearly doesn’t. He’s wrong about Trump but absolutely nothing else. He planned for governing and had great people in his cabinet. This lot are poor. They deserve criticism. Blair understands we cannot go to the left because it reduces growth. He was a far better pm than anyone recently. He introduced many policies to help ordinary people but all that gets talked about is a war. It’s totally stupid not to see other achievements and the fact this lot are controlled by people who don’t run businesses. They have no
idea.

He’s not right wing! Utterly ridiculous. He is largely correct that people like me, the middle ground, are increasingly abandoned and simultaneously worried!

I don't think that the UK was ever in a position militarily to get involved in the Iranian war whether it wanted to or not. Look at the shit show regarding the deployment of HMS Dragon and a complete absence of air defence at Akrotiri.

What I think would been the smarter option would have been for the UK to come out and openly agree that Iran is a threat (20 foiled terrorist attacks in the UK in the last 3 years). Allow the US to use UK airbases ( as they are now). But explain that due the UK's commitments to the North Atlantic and face off Russian aggression that the UK is unable to contribute any military assets to the Iranian conflict.

I suspect this is a very significant consideration. HMS Dragon was an absolute farce. Our military leaders have been making this point for donkeys but the politicians have just brushed over it.

Blair has said that general elections are won from the centre ground.

I agree with this and think the Labour party need to be careful not to go too "left" in the same way the Conservatives need to be careful not to go too "right".

Green and Reform would be a disaster in my opinion if they ever did somehow manage to get elected (God forbid).

Both the Greens and Reform would be a disaster. I do wonder if they'd survive a full term though. Part of me wonders if we have to endure the shitshow to inoculate ourselves in the longer term.

@Twiglets1Radio 4 news - contributor says electorate going right and left and the middle ground isn’t represented because the right and left are more appealing. Not to me I have to say. Empty promises are a big problem!

Yep, Steve Bell was bang on the money portraying him with his one mad eye.

Oh FGS. I’m so fed up of the left labelling anyone with views they don’t agree with as “far right”.

No-one seriously expects the Greens to form a government, or have much more than the handful of seats they have now. I suppose they could end up as junior partners in a coalition with Labour and the LibDems but it seems highly unlikely.

I agree and for the Labour government to publicly declare that the UK will not participate in the Iranian conflict as some form of principled high ground when they couldn't participate even if they wanted to is a bit farcical.

Its a bit like me saying that I'm refusing to take part in the GB 100 metre sprint team at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics as a protest against Trump.

Unfortunately that does seem to be the case that many of the electorate seem to be drawn to the more extreme elements on both the left and the right.

But there are many who describe themselves as "politically homeless" like me.

Come the General Election, we will have to make a choice and most of those in the middle will vote Labour or Conservative.

I hope (& expect because I'm an optimist) that common sense will prevail and the Greens or Reform won't actually have enough support in a GE to come into power.

I don't think it's as unlikely as everyone suggests.

There is unlikely to be a majority at the next election. That means all kinds of drama and horse trading. Or another election.

There's even the possibility of Reform and the Greens coming to an arrangement. Which would be all kinds of madness. But not beyond the realms of possibilities either.

Stand for election @1dayatatime

I would vote for you 😉

Tbh i think I'm at the point of being willing to vote for anyone who shows even a hint of competency. My bar isn't high.

No chance of me ever being elected.

I would be saying- "you want better services then I'm going to have to tax everyone more" or alternatively "you want lower taxes then I'm going to have to cut services for everyone ".

Whereas if I wanted to be elected then I would claim that I can get the extra money from "cutting wasteful spending " or by "growing the economy " or "closing billionaire tax loopholes" - all of which are meaningless bollocks, but the average voters lap it up.

I agree with him about NMW being too high and that we are currently over taxing businesses. The current govt policies on these things haven't done the jobs market any good have they ?

This is such a wild take

Yup - no politician ever got elected by being honest 😑

This cant be serious?

Oh God you’re one of those people where your only litmus paper is Palestine aren’t you?

I'm not sure we are overtaxing businesses in general. We are certainly overtaxing small high street businesses, and UK-based businesses in general, particularly with rates. This is why they simply cannot compete. On the other hand we allowing giant, mainly US-based firms, to operate essentially tax-free using fictions like brand licensing costs to reduce their apparent UK profits to almost zero and to send all their revenue abroad.

Remind me who Tony Blair works for again? Oh yeah, Larry Ellison. Your basic fucking Bond villain.