Essay by Eric Worrall
“Infinite capacity for self-delusion” – Tony Blair kicked off Britain’s Net Zero disaster by signing Kyoto in 1997. Now he wants to hit the reset button.
Tony Blair tells Starmer and rivals: abandon net zero and move closer to Trump
In highly unusual intervention, ex-PM says his party’s ‘almost infinite capacity for self-delusion’ makes it likely to lose next election
Jessica Elgot Deputy political editorWed 27 May 2026 07.00 AEST
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.
In a scathing 5,700-word attack on the prime minister and his would-be successors published on Tuesday night, Blair argued for the government to crack down on welfare spending, abandon restrictions on oil and gas and smooth relations with Donald Trump.
His essay, a highly unusual intervention for a past Labour prime minister, is likely to draw a furious response from across the party, where Blair’s legacy remains highly contentious. On Tuesday, one senior source accused him of abandoning social democratic values to embrace an agenda that had “no answers”.
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A senior Labour source said: “Tony has evidently not been near a working-class Brit for decades but he’s clearly been away with the tech bro fantasists.
“Reheated Blairism has absolutely no answers to our national decline since the vultures were let loose. There was a time he would have stood up for social democratic values, but this shows just how far he has fallen.”
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/26/tony-blair-labour-abandon-net-zero-support-donald-trump
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I think it’s fair to say Blair is one of my least favourite politicians. But he didn’t get everything wrong, he stands with Margaret Thatcher in his level of support for the transatlantic alliance and the USA.
Blair’s latest critique pulls no punches;
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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.
Whether there is a leadership change or not is irrelevant if it doesn’t start with a policy debate. Are we really prioritising economic growth, essential not just for prosperity but for social justice, if there is a slew of policies we’re implementing which might restrict it? Does our economy need right now the goal of clean energy or cheap energy? How do we justify adding to the welfare bill when it is already ballooning, taxes are high and getting higher, and we’re told we have to increase defence spending to prepare for the possibility of war?
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At a minimum, the government should try to limit the effect of the changes made and, as we have argued consistently, remove those parts of the net-zero agenda which prioritise clean energy over cheaper energy; and from now on make sure the actions match the words on growth.
…9. Most important of all, reorganising the whole of government around the harnessing of the 21st-century technological revolution. All governments for the foreseeable future will govern in the age of AI. Those which understand it will see their countries prosper; those which don’t, won’t. This is literally the challenge across all sectors including welfare and health (digital ID is just one, though vital, part of it). It will define the future of the British economy which, ironically, has a powerful position in technology but one we’re in danger of squandering.
Read more: https://institute.global/insights/politics-and-governance/the-labour-party-is-playing-with-fire-over-its-future-and-the-future-of-the-country
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There is a lot in Blair’s public statement I disagree with – he still thinks leaving the European Union was a mistake. In my opinion Blair is still a big state authoritarian, who despite everything believes a long term climate goal is a good idea.
But Blair also got a lot right in his critique. He correctly identified AI as the great challenge of the 21st century, and eloquently argued for energy affordability over green purity, and the need for reforms which deliver hope and economic growth over an ever rising welfare bill.
Let’s hope Blair’s heirs in the Labour Party heed at least some of his call to action.
