Tony Blair says Labour went into election with 'strategy for defeat' as he delivers scathing verdict on Jeremy Corbyn's leadership

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Ellena Cruse18 December 2019
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Former prime minister Tony Blair claims Labour went into the general election with a “strategy for defeat”.

During a speech in London, the former party leader urged the party to grab back control from outgoing leader Jeremy Corbyn, who he said personified a brand of "quasi-revolutionary socialism" that had failed.

He also said Mr Corbyn's complicated and equivocal stance on Brexit had alienated both Leave and Remain voters, which contributed to the party's disastrous results.

The party had its worst election outcome since 1935 during the poll on December 12, which Mr Blair described as "unforgivable".

He said: “The result has brought shame on us. We let our country down.

"We pursued a path of almost comic indecision, alienated both sides of the debate leaving our voters without guidance or leadership.

"The absence of leadership on what was obviously the biggest question facing the country then reinforced all the other doubts about Jeremy Corbyn."

Mr Blair, who won three elections and was prime minister from 1997 to 2007, also claimed the party would be "finished" if it continues with the politics of Mr Corbyn.

"The takeover of the Labour Party by the far left turned it into a glorified protest movement with cult trimmings, utterly incapable of being a credible government," he said.

Tony Blair speaks at the Hallam Conference Centre in London
REUTERS

Mr Blair, whose former seat was lost to the Tories, added that it was "no ordinary defeat" for Labour.

Labour won just 203 seats in the election, down 59, and saw its vote share fall by 7.8 percentage points to 32. per cent.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservatives won 365 seats, up 47, on 43.6 per cent of the vote.

Former prime minister Tony Blair gives a speech on the future of the Labour Party and progressive politics at the Hallam Conference Centre
PA

"It marks a moment in history," he said.

"The choice for Labour is to renew itself as a progressive, non-conservative competitor for power in British politics or retreat from such an ambition in which case over time it will be replaced."

Mr Blair added that it did not take a genius to work out what happened.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said there was no way of uniting the country over Brexit
REUTERS

"I feel deeply for those MPs and candidates who lost through no fault of their own and the thousands of volunteers who as I know well are the backbone of the party," he said.

"Of course Brexit was an issue - it was a Brexit election, which is why it was a cardinal error for Labour to ever agree it.

"An already difficult situation was made impossible by the failure to take a clear position and to stick to it."

The former prime minister also said that while he "very seriously takes the argument" that Labour "deserted or disrespected our working class voters by reopening the referendum result", he also believes the party were in a hard position.

"Britain is deeply divided over it," he said.

"Now that Brexit will happen we must make the best of it and the country must come together."

He added: "If Labour had gone for Leave it would simply have alienated the other half of the nation who opposed Brexit as well as the vast bulk of party members."

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