Good Morning Britain reporter Louisa James had the latest.
Andy Burnham was dealt a devastating blow (Image: Getty)
Andy Burnham has been dealt a devastating blow on Good Morning Britain with a few choice words from former Labour prime minister Tony Blair. Blair – who caused controversy with the Iraq war when he was in office – has released a bombshell statement taking aim at the party’s current policies, with ITV reporter Louisa James reading aloud extracts.
She explained: “He’s accused them of a lot of things, 5,000 words worth, in fact. Of ‘playing with fire and the future of the country’, of ‘allowing us to slide into relegation from the Premier League of Nations’. He lays into some of Keir Starmer’s key policies on things like improving workers’ rights, increasing the minimum wage, phasing out oil and gas. He says it was a terrible look to put up taxes at the same time as failing to tackle the ballooning welfare bill.
“He does say, as well, he agrees with some of the decisions made by the prime minister and essentially that the reason the party is in such a deep hole goes beyond any individual. That the only solution, he says, is a fundamental reset.
“He writes, ‘The government’s principal problem isn’t Keir Starmer’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.’”
But next came a blow for Burnham, as Blair insists a “leadership election is not the answer”. Louisa read: “Trying to force out the prime minister, he says, before we know what policy direction we’re bringing in is not a serious way of conducting ourselves.
Louisa James had the latest (Image: ITV)
“While he does describe Wes Streeting, who wants the prime minister’s job, as a ‘huge political talent’, Andy Burnham, who also wants the prime minister’s job, as an ‘outstanding member of Blair’s government’, he also has criticism for some of their ideas, including the suggestion that we rejoin the EU, which he says is not the answer.”
The reporter concluded: “Well, all this matters because of the timing. The prime minister is in a very precarious position after those disastrous local election results, and there’s this underground leadership contest taking place.
“And because it is from Labour’s most successful politician, a man that won three general elections in a row.”
