Tony Blair

What has changed?

Were you at your wit's end?

Leave aside the preparedness of the country.

I mean, what is so striking about the argument that you're making now is that it is the preparedness of the party that you once led, where you were once prime minister, where you're absolutely scathing.

The Labour Party is playing with fire or more accurately with its future and that of the country.

What does that mean by playing with fire?

But here we are in 2026.

It's, you know, quite a while since you were prime minister.

We now have the attention economy.

We now have the Internet.

We wear personality and being able to tell a story and create a narrative does matter.

And look, if you go back to 1994, when you became the leader of the Labour Party, part of the reason it was you rather than Gordon Brown was because you could tell a story.

You were a good communicator.

And those things do matter.

Can I just ask you this?

Your relationship with Keir Starmer, when was the last time he sought your advice on policy?

I mean, you say there hasn't been clear thinking about what the project is.

Isn't it more the case that there has been thinking?

They just don't go along with new Labour or the third way or whatever you want to call it.

And it was very striking that after the local council elections and those shocking results for Labour, that the person that Keir Starmer turned to to become an advisor was one Gordon Brown, not Tony Blair.