Blair criticises Starmer’s stance on US relations and Iran War

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has launched another stinging attack on Keir Starmer’s government, claiming “partly because of the intellectual wasteland of the Corbyn years, it had no properly thought-through analysis of how the world was changing and what that meant for policy.”

In a 5700-word essay published on the website of his Tony Blair Global Institute organisation, he criticised Starmer’s approach to dealing with Donald Trump over the war in Iran and also called for a closer alliance with Gulf States in the Middle East.

Later, as he spoke to the BBC after his essay was published, Blair, who was appointed by Trump to the Gaza Board of Peace, defended the Gaza peace deal, claiming “we put together a plan that ended the war” despite renewed conflict in the region in recent days.

He continued: “We need to move this new government into Gaza, and we need Hamas to agree that this government should be in control of Gaza. So it’s a very tricky, difficult situation, but if the plan is allowed to work, it will give the Gaza people a fresh start with a new Palestinian government and a large amount of funding behind it.”

In a section in his essay on foreign policy, Blair wrote: “Caught between the isolationist tendency of parts of the right and misguided progressivism of parts of the left, which combined are in danger of leaving Britain marooned on an island of irrelevance.”

“An accumulative risk for Britain is that we become frighteningly insular, wary of America because of [US President Donald] Trump, out of Europe because we think it’s inconsistent with national sovereignty and considering China as an enemy state,” he wrote.

He proceeded to attack Starmer’s refusal to allow American jets to use British bases at the start of the Iran war, a decision that led to a breach in relations with the White House.

Saying that he understood the political reasons behind the PM’s refusal, Blair added: “It’s not the best way to treat our ally.”

He accused the government of forgetting “an essential lesson, not just of diplomacy, but of power politics – if you want to play, you have to be sat at the table and bring something to the table”.

Blair wrote: “I know how hard it is to be an ally of the USA.

“We were its staunchest supporter post 9/11. We went through Afghanistan and Iraq together. But it mattered deeply to America, and so it mattered to us also. America remains the indispensable core of Britain’s security alliance. But staying with it means even when it is difficult or unpopular.

In an intervention that received criticism from within Labour, Blair also called on Europe, including Britain, to “fashion a strong alliance with the Middle East” as a new power bloc.

“The Gulf states are another new factor in global politics, wealthy, modernising fast and with huge investment in the West, which they are increasing, as well as becoming important players in the developing world,” he said.

Blair also suggested a leadership change that could see either Andy Burnham or Wes Streeting replace the current PM would prove “irrelevant” if it doesn’t start with a debate around forging a radical change in policy ideas.

He wrote: “The government’s principal problem isn’t Keir’s personality. Or a failure to communicate ‘our achievements’. Or a need to assert more strongly Labour’s ‘values’.

“It is because we don’t have a worked-out, coherent plan for the country in a fast-changing world and are in the wrong political position from which we can devise one and win a second term.

“The government is governing from an essentially traditional Labour ‘soft left’ position, parked firmly in the party’s comfort zone.”