Tony Blair Says Keir Starmer, Andy Burnham, Wes Streeting Risk Labour’s Future

Former Labour prime minister Tony Blair accused Keir Starmer, Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting of putting Labour’s future at risk by abandoning the centre ground, warning that the party’s “almost infinite capacity for self-delusion” means it is likely to lose the next election.

“- Published Sir Tony Blair has accused Sir Keir Starmer's government of having no "coherent plan" for the country and introducing policies that have held back business”

BBC

Blair’s 5,700-word intervention argued the government should crack down on welfare spending, abandon restrictions on oil and gas, and smooth relations with Donald Trump, while also warning that forcing a leadership change before a policy debate is “not a serious way of conducting ourselves.”

BBC

In a separate report, the BBC said Blair accused Starmer’s government of having no “coherent plan” for the country and introducing policies that have held back business, singling out new workers’ rights laws, the phasing out of the British oil and gas industry, and an above-inflation uplift to the minimum wage.

The BBC also reported Downing Street declined to comment on the essay but said Starmer was “fully focussed on delivering change for working people,” while a spokeswoman pointed to measures aimed at easing the cost of living and falling NHS waiting lists.

Blair’s critique was framed as a warning that the government’s “principal problem” was not Keir’s personality or a failure to communicate “our achievements,” but that “we don’t have a worked-out coherent plan for the country in a fast-changing world.”

Sky News reported Blair warned Labour against forcing Starmer to quit without a proper policy agenda to follow him, saying the government is “playing with the future of the country” and has held back business and growth since it won the election.

Sky News said Blair argued Labour is “lacking a project” and was “playing with the future of the country” in a 5,700-word essay published on Tuesday, and it listed areas where he disagreed with the government since it came into office in July 2024.

The Guardian

The BBC said Blair warned that whether there was a change of leader was “irrelevant if it doesn’t start with a policy debate,” and it reported that he wrote, “Trying to force the prime minister out before we know what policy direction we’re bringing in, is not a serious way of conducting ourselves.”

The BBC also reported Labour MP Chris Curtis told BBC Radio 4’s The World Tonight that he found Blair’s essay “quite refreshing to read,” while Labour MP Rachael Maskell said she did not believe Blair’s analysis was correct and that he was “continuing the argument from back then rather than looking at the situation today.”

The BBC added that the timing of the intervention was described as “incredibly unhelpful” because of three parliamentary by-elections next month, including the contest in Makerfield, which it said will be crucial for the future direction of the Labour Party.

Blair’s essay urged action on AI and argued for a “Radical Centre,” putting “policy first and politics last,” while calling for removing obstacles to business growth and harnessing artificial intelligence.

“Tony Blair has accused Keir Starmer, Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting of putting Labour’s future at risk by abandoning the centre ground, warning that the party’s “almost infinite capacity for self-delusion” means it is likely to lose the next election”

The Guardian

The i Paper reported Blair’s think-tank, the Tony Blair Institute, warned that Starmer is failing to put forward a “coherent” plan for reform of public services such as schools, policing and hospitals, and it said the pace of modernisation under New Labour in the early 2000s has slowed.

The i Paper also said the Tony Blair Institute paper Public Service Reform in the Age of AI argued Britain’s current model of government is “incapable of delivery” and “needs a unifying theory of reform not seen since the financial crisis,” while also arguing for the government to go full-speed ahead with digital ID despite the prime minister scrapping plans for a mandatory scheme for all UK workers.

On Europe, the BBC reported Blair said “Britain has lost from Brexit” and that “at some point it is ripe to enter a debate about 'going back',” while also warning that reversing Brexit “isn’t the answer” to Britain’s “far worse situation in 2026.”

The Guardian reported Blair said the government should repair relations with Trump’s White House and, in naming Angela Rayner’s employment rights bill and Ed Miliband’s net zero drive as key mistakes, argued the policies gave “headwinds, not tailwinds to British business.”