Tony Blair accused Jeremy Corbyn of turning Britain into a 'one-party state'
Ian Forsyth / Stringer
Blair also implied that he supports Owen Smith in Labour's leadership contest, the results of which will be announced on Saturday.
He said it was "fairly obvious" who he was supporting, because Labour under its current leadership is promoting a "culture of protest" and placard-waving when it should promote a "culture of government."
Speaking on Tuesday with Sir Harold Evans, editor-in-large at Reuters, Blair said that there are "two types of politics on the left."
"I sometimes liken it to this situation. You've got a guy with a placard protesting and there's a face on the placard, which is the person in government," said Blair.
"My type of politics: I'm the face on the placard. I'm that bastard. 'Let's go get him.' That's what government's about. We tried for a hundred years to have a minimum wage: we got one under my government. We only got it because we were in power.
"The other culture is the guy holding the placard. They don't really want to be in power; they want to make the people in power respond to their concerns."
Blair said that he is unable to see how both cultures can "cohabit," because "the guy holding the placard hates the guy on the placard."
Blair also used the interview to raise a wider concern that voters in Europe and the United States would turn to populist options which would not be "sensible."
"This is nothing to do with the British Labour Party, but I have this fear that this populism is something we are going to have to experience before we realise it is not very sensible," said Blair.
Blair also used the interview to voice his support for Hilary Clinton, the Democratic candidate in the US presidential rate. He said that she is "someone in my view who I would personally trust completely... I think she has got enormous wisdom, common sense and integrity."
While he did not name Donald Trump directly, he said that he foresaw "chaos" if American voters elect an "isolationist" president.
- 2 states where home prices are falling because there are too many houses and not enough buyers
- US buys 81 Soviet-era combat aircraft from Russia's ally costing on average less than $20,000 each, report says
- A couple accidentally shipped their cat in an Amazon return package. It arrived safely 6 days later, hundreds of miles away.
- 9 health benefits of drinking sugarcane juice in summer
- 10 benefits of incorporating almond oil into your daily diet
- From heart health to detoxification: 10 reasons to eat beetroot
- Why did a NASA spacecraft suddenly start talking gibberish after more than 45 years of operation? What fixed it?
- ICICI Bank shares climb nearly 5% after Q4 earnings; mcap soars by ₹36,555.4 crore
- Nothing Phone (2a) blue edition launched
- JNK India IPO allotment date
- JioCinema New Plans
- Realme Narzo 70 Launched
- Apple Let Loose event
- Elon Musk Apology
- RIL cash flows
- Charlie Munger
- Feedbank IPO allotment
- Tata IPO allotment
- Most generous retirement plans
- Broadcom lays off
- Cibil Score vs Cibil Report
- Birla and Bajaj in top Richest
- Nestle Sept 2023 report
- India Equity Market