Tony Blair on Nick Robinson's Show

[Damocles]

Isn't that supposed to be the Lib Dems job? And they don't get much electoral support.

Supposed to be, but their Party moves around so much that it's difficult to keep track about where they are.

 

[taleofbluehalves]

He makes a fairly valid point in it, suggesting that if the electorate had to pick between Boris and Corbyn in an election then we could see the rise of the much muted centrist Third Way Party in the near future.

Too be honest I won’t vote Conservative but Labour(who I would vote for) are a shambles. Would I vote for a centralist party? Probably yes. Had Labour got a New Labour type focus and approach now with a credible leader they’d be 20 points ahead in the polls. A new party would have every chance I think.

 

[Damocles]

Weren't New Labour, the Labour party under Tony Blair, supposed to be the "centrist third way party"?

Given his type of government, its eventual failure to be neither one thing or another, followed by the ham fisted buffoonery masquerading as government from the Tory party since the demise of new labour, it's seems almost inevitable that a more fundamental form of socialism would follow. It seems to me JC is almost a direct result of the combined efforts of Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Dave Cameron and Teresa May.

Yes it was.

And the centrist Third Way Party under Tony Blair won three elections back to back, two of which were landslides. Brown was one of the least charismatic and disliked leaders of the modern era and got "only" 258 seats after a resurgent Lib Dems split the left vote under Clegg and he faced the most capable Tory politician since Thatcher in Cameron.

Subsequently this achievement was dwarfed by Corbyn's great socialist victory against Jim Henson character Theresa May against the back drop of Brexit and Tory disarray with a massive 262 seats.

In 2005, Blair's weakest ever election showing and after the deeply unpopular Iraq War, Blair gained a damning 355 seats.

 

[blueparrot]

Isi it simply a fact that people are natural tribal and hold on to political parties like they would a football team?
It's be interesting to see, in the event of a third way party, how many centre right/centre left people would be back with the Tories/Labour
within a couple of elections.

Maybe, but I think younger voters are less tribal, my children are. Not to everyones taste, but we do have an example of a single issue minority party growing into a centre left, more pragmatic driven party becoming more popular than Labour or Conservative. That's the SNP, when the Scottish parliament started Labour were way out the most popular party and the system was set up to prevent a single party majority, the GE before last they returned 53 out of 56 seats. So it is possible over time to break the status quo.

 

[robbieh]

Not a fan of Blair's but I am a democrat and do believe that people should have a so called centrist party just as I want a party that represents my left wing ideals.

At this moment in time it might be easier for moderate Tories and centrist Labour MPs to create some sort of party with the Lib Dems.

But if the Labour Party returns to the centre I hope that a Left wing party will arise.

The term moderate though I would say is quite subjective Whether the current status quo is moderate is open for debate. Brexit, huge environmental problems, widening inequality, failing public services.

 

[arbabarshad]

Too be honest I won’t vote Conservative but Labour(who I would vote for) are a shambles. Would I vote for a centralist party? Probably yes. Had Labour got a New Labour type focus and approach now with a credible leader they’d be 20 points ahead in the polls. A new party would have every chance I think.

Another theory would be that if Labour was centrist now, the overall politics in this country would move to the "right". This country needs Corbyn right now (not necessarily in power) to keep an equilibrium between left and right. It's the only way to keep the politics in centre.

 

[Damocles]

Another theory would be that if Labour was centrist now, the overall politics in this country would move to the "right". This country needs Corbyn right now (not necessarily in power) to keep an equilibrium between left and right. It's the only way to keep the politics in centre.

I think there's a football analogy here.

This would be like saying that we need to play 5 attackers and 5 defenders to maintain the balance of attack and defence in our team. When really we could have 4 defenders, 1 up front and 5 in varying stages of midfield and keep the balance perfectly.

The best way to keep a centrist country, in so far as we can understand a term as divisive as that, is to elect centrist politicians.

The fight against extremism isn't won by more extremism of the opposite brand but in fact less of it.

 

[arbabarshad]

I think there's a football analogy here.

This would be like saying that we need to play 5 attackers and 5 defenders to maintain the balance of attack and defence in our team. When really we could have 4 defenders, 1 up front and 5 in varying stages of midfield and keep the balance perfectly.

The best way to keep a centrist country, in so far as we can understand a term as divisive as that, is to elect centrist politicians.

The fight against extremism isn't won by more extremism of the opposite brand but in fact less of it.

How would you apply that to the political system in this country?

 

[Ban-jani]

Weren't New Labour, the Labour party under Tony Blair, supposed to be the "centrist third way party"?

Given his type of government, its eventual failure to be neither one thing or another, followed by the ham fisted buffoonery masquerading as government from the Tory party since the demise of new labour, it's seems almost inevitable that a more fundamental form of socialism would follow. It seems to me JC is almost a direct result of the combined efforts of Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Dave Cameron and Teresa May.

Yes they were the Centrist Third Way Party and they won three majorities, how that is a failure is anyone’s guess.

The financial crash and Brown being a poor leader in terms of personality finished off New Labour.

 

[Damocles]

How would you apply that to the political system in this country?

I've experienced a fair bit of political extremism in my life; from the fascists to the anti-fascist crowd. One experience with the BNP always stuck out with me though in the mid 00s.

My Mum and Aunt were, to my abject horror, considering voting for the BNP. They weren't the only ones either; many of the people I socialised with in pubs were giving it serious thought. When exploring the reasons for this then it kept coming back to the same ideas - they felt the mainstream parties weren't listening to them on immigration. That's where it started but not where it ended.

Some wised up after Griffin and his friends received more press coverage and were shown up. Others however became more entrenched, clueing into conspiracy about the BBC and mainstream media.

Nobody starts extreme, they are pushed there through centrist policies that are blind to their concerns and then pushed further and further by their own stubbornness and reinforced world view.

When centrist policies address the deep concerns, the ones often communicated badly, then they pull people back to the moderate. And moderacy, where we acknowledge other parties as working for their view of the common good rather than as evil or corrupt, is where politics and societies thrive.

Former Eastern Bloc immigration is a good example of a badly communicated complaint. I'd argue the majority of people have no problem with the odd Polish shop or Hungarian family. What their anxiety is really about, is that there's a lack of unskilled jobs in the economy and the social welfare services such as the DWP and NHS are massively overworked already.

I reckon if you solved jobs, housing and overworked social welfare systems then the immigration problem would go with it