London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 11, 2025

Tony Blair says Labour has ‘recovered’ as he dismisses need for new party

Tony Blair says Labour has ‘recovered’ as he dismisses need for new party

Keir Starmer ‘doing an amazing job’ but voters still confused about what party stands for, says former PM
Tony Blair has dismissed the need for a new political party, saying Labour has “recovered” under Keir Starmer but needs a clearer sense of direction to win the next general election.

After a mixed few weeks for Labour, with MPs raising concerns about Starmer’s appeal but the party managing to retake the “red wall” seat of Wakefield in a byelection, Blair said the leadership needed to come forward with appealing new policies.

Although Blair said Starmer was “doing an amazing job, given what he inherited after the Corbyn years”, he cautioned there was still confusion among voters about what the party under him stood for.

Speaking ahead of a conference hosted by his institute, the former prime minister told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The Labour party itself is saying: ‘We’re going to set out a policy agenda later this year and into next,’ and in a way, this conference, I mean the ideas we’re putting forward are available for anybody.

“The next election, in my view, will be as much about Labour as it is about the Conservatives, because I think people will think: ‘Yeah, OK, in principle, we should put the Conservatives out.’ But before they make that change, they’ve got to be sure of Labour.”

Blair believed Starmer was “entirely capable of doing that”, but added: “We’ve got to be absolutely frank with ourselves. If we want to win, it’s going to be on the basis that people are absolutely clear what Labour is and what it stands for.”

A longstanding critic of Starmer’s predecessor Jeremy Corbyn, Blair said he had been approached in the past about “whether they should start a new party”, but said: “I was not involved in creating a new party.”

If Labour had continued under the leadership of someone on the “Corbyn wing” of the party, Blair said that “British politics would have had to have broken up in some way”. But he dismissed the need for a new party given Starmer’s record so far.

“I think the Labour party has recovered its basic poise and clarity,” Blair said. “To be fair to Starmer, when you think of what he inherited, what he’s done, I think he’s made an enormous amount of progress.”

Blair said there was appetite in the west for a radical but sensible centrist politics, citing the election of Joe Biden in the US, Emmanuel Macron in France, and of the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz.

He said: “My view of the Labour party is the centre-left modern progressive political party at the next election, and that is clear to people with a forward-looking agenda. [Starmer] has got every chance of winning.”

Labour was buoyed last week by the reclaiming of the long-held Labour seat of Wakefield, which they took back from the Conservatives in a sign the party is making inroads into the former heartlands that crumbled at the 2019 election.

Talk of Tory MPs seeking to defect to Labour has also boosted spirits in the party.

However, Starmer has faced a difficult few weeks given the pushback for banning frontbenchers from joining picket lines during rail strikes.

He had to tell his shadow cabinet to stop calling him boring, after a string of negative briefings.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
The British legal mafia hit back: Banksy mural of judge beating protester is scrubbed from London court
Surpassing Musk: Larry Ellison becomes the richest man in the world
Embarrassment for Starmer: He fired the ambassador photographed on Epstein’s 'pedophile island'
Manhunt after 'skilled sniper' shot Charlie Kirk. Footage: Suspect running on rooftop during panic
Effective Protest Results: Nepal’s Prime Minister Resigns as Youth-Led Unrest Shakes the Nation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
King Charles and Prince Harry Share First In-Person Moment in 19 Months
Starmer Establishes Economic ‘Budget Board’ to Centralise Policy and Rebuild Business Trust
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
Poland Shoots Down Russian Drones in Airspace Violation During Ukraine Attack
Brazilian police say ex-President Bolsonaro had planned to flee to Argentina seeking asylum
Trinidad Leader Applauds U.S. Naval Strike and Advocates Forceful Action Against Traffickers
Kim Jong Un Oversees Final Test of New High-Thrust Solid-Fuel Rocket Engine
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Macron Appoints Sébastien Lecornu as Prime Minister Amid Budget Crisis and Political Turmoil
Supreme Court temporarily allows Trump to pause billions in foreign aid
Charlie Sheen says his father, Martin Sheen, turned him in to the police: 'The greatest betrayal possible'
Vatican hosts first Catholic LGBTQ pilgrimage
Apple Unveils iPhone 17 Series, iPhone Air, Apple Watch 11 and More at 'Awe Dropping' Event
Pig Heads Left Outside Multiple Paris Mosques in Outrage-Inducing Acts
Nvidia’s ‘Wow’ Factor Is Fading. The AI chip giant used to beat Wall Street expectations for earnings by a substantial margin. That trajectory is coming down to earth.
France joins Eurozone’s ‘periphery’ as turmoil deepens, say investors
On the Anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s Death: Prince Harry Returns to Britain
France Faces New Political Crisis, again, as Prime Minister Bayrou Pushed Out
Murdoch Family Finalises $3.3 Billion Succession Pact, Ensuring Eldest Son’s Leadership
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Court Staff Cover Up Banksy Image of Judge Beating a Protester
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Nayib Bukele Points Out Belgian Hypocrisy as Brussels Considers Sending Army into the Streets
Elon Musk Poised to Become First Trillionaire Under Ambitious Tesla Pay Plan
France, at an Impasse, Heads Toward Another Government Collapse
Burning the Minister’s House Helped Protesters to Win Justice: Prabowo Fires Finance Minister in Wake of Indonesia Protests
Brazil Braces for Fallout from Bolsonaro Trial by corrupted judge
The Country That Got Too Rich? Public Spending Dominates Norway Election
Nearly 40 Years Later: Nike Changes the Legendary Slogan Just Do It
Generations Born After 1939 Unlikely to Reach Age One Hundred, New Study Finds
End to a four-year manhunt in New Zealand: the father who abducted his children to the forests was killed, the three siblings were found
Germany Suspends Debt Rules, Funnels €500 Billion Toward Military and Proxy War Strategy
EU Prepares for War
BMW Eyes Growth in China with New All‑Electric Neue Klasse Lineup
Trump Threatens Retaliatory Tariffs After EU Imposes €2.95 Billion Fine on Google
Tesla Board Proposes Unprecedented One-Trillion-Dollar Performance Package for Elon Musk
US Justice Department Launches Criminal Mortgage-Fraud Probe into Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook
Escalating Drug Trafficking and Violence in Latin America: A Growing Crisis
US and Taiwanese Defence Officials Held Secret Talks in Alaska
Report: Secret SEAL Team 6 Mission in North Korea Ordered by Trump in 2019 Ended in Failure
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Florida Murder Case: The Adelson Family, the Killing of Dan Markel, and the Trial of Donna Adelson
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
×