Tony Blair says UK is not 'a serious country' as he condemns 'bizarre' Labour leadership chaos, calls for benefits cuts and says rejoining EU 'isn't the answer'

By GREG HEFFER, POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT Published: 09:16, 27 May 2026 | Updated: 09:23, 27 May 2026 Tony Blair today blasted Labour's 'bizarre' leadership battle as he claimed a 'serious country' would not be changing prime minister again. The former Labour premier, who led the country between 1997 and 2007, has delivered a damning assessment of the current state of his party. In a 5,600-word essay, Sir Tony has accused Labour of retreating into a Left-wing 'comfort zone' with no 'coherent plan' for transforming Britain. The ex-PM used a radio interview this morning to reinforce his criticisms, as Labour MPs continue to weigh up whether to oust Keir Starmer from Downing Street. Sir Tony told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'It's possible we're about to have the seventh PM in 10 years - a serious country can't do that to itself. 'And what is bizarre about the present situation is that we're all talking about politics when the key thing is to talk about policy. 'If you don't decide what your policy direction is, there's no point in changing the leader.' Sir Tony urged Labour MPs to 'force people to say where they stand' if they do push for a leadership contest, with Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting as likely candidates. He also decried Britain's ballooning welfare bill - which he warned is harming economic growth - while he called for the axing of Ed Miliband's Net Zero agenda, and the scrapping of the pensions triple lock. Sir Tony, who was an arch-Remainer, admitted that reversing Brexit - as proposed by Mr Streeting - 'isn't the answer to Britain's problems'. He suggested the UK is currently too weak to enter into serious negotiations with the EU about rejoining the bloc. Tony Blair today blasted Labour's 'bizarre' leadership battle as he claimed a 'serious country' would not be changing prime minister again Sir Tony urged Labour MPs 'force people to say where they stand' if they do push for a leadership contest, with Andy Burnham (pictured) and Wes Streeting as likely candidates Mr Streeting recently called for Britain to rejoin the EU and described Brexit as a 'a catastrophic mistake'. But Sir Tony said reversing Brexit 'isn't the answer to Britain's problems' Sir Tony steered clear of endorsing either Mr Burnham or Mr Streeting as Sir Keir's replacement. Asked what he would say to Labour MPs who are mulling a change of leader, he said: 'My advice is choose your direction first and make sure that, before you have any leadership change, you make all the candidates set out in detail their policy, what the Government's got right, what it's got wrong, what we should do differently.' Mr Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor, is contesting the Makerfield by-election with the hope of returning to the House of Commons to challenge Sir Keir. Sir Tony praised Mr Burnham as a 'great guy' and said he wanted to see the former Cabinet minister back in Parliament. But he hit out at Mr Burnham's claim that Britain had been 'on the wrong path for 40 years'. 'I mean, OK, and what, nothing good happened in that period of Thatcher with the business community, or New Labour?,' Sir Tony asked. Sir Tony Blair warned that if large increases in incapacity benefits along with the triple lock continues, 'we're going to create a situation where economically we're not able to grow'. He said: 'At some point you've got to be able to stand up and have an honest debate with the public, which is to say, look, ultimately we're probably taxing people too much, spending too much, borrowing too much at the moment'. 'If we carry on like this with these large increases in incapacity benefit, with the triple lock on pensions, we're going to create a situation where economically we're not, we're not able to grow because we put such a weight affecting growth on the back of our economy.' Sir Tony added: 'You can't carry on a situation where you're going to end up if you're not careful spending more on incapacity and disability benefits than you are on defence.' Mr Streeting recently called for Britain to rejoin the EU and described Brexit as a 'a catastrophic mistake'. But Sir Tony warned, if the UK is to seek a return to the Brussels-based bloc, then 'it's got to do so from strength'. He added: 'We're not strong at the moment, and it's going to be a negotiation. 'In particular, if I'm right about the technology revolution, we've got to make sure Europe is not moving in a direction - and presently, by the way, it is - which is hostile to that technology revolution. 'Now, I think Europe may well change its position around that, but it's got to be a negotiation. 'Just as it (Brexit) wasn't the answer to Britain's problems in 2016, reversing it isn't the answer to Britain's problems in 2026. 'I remain of the view that, of course, we should have a structured relationship with our own continent, but you can't just click your fingers and have it.' Sir Tony said Sir Keir should rip up Ed Miliband's Net Zero targets as he urged the Government to focus on 'cheap energy' In a later interview, Sir Tony said Sir Keir should rip up Mr Miliband's Net Zero targets. 'It's not that I'm against renewable energy, clean energy, and it's not that I'm a climate denier,' he told Times Radio. 'It's coming to terms with this reality: the three biggest emitters in the world today are China, America and India. Together they account for just over 50 per cent of global emissions. 'All of them are pursuing cheap energy and electrification. Doesn't mean to say they're not doing renewable energy, China builds more renewable energy than the rest of the world put together. 'It just means that the lens through which they judge policy is cheap energy and the need for electrification, particularly in the age of AI.' He added: 'Britain's emissions are under 1 per cent of global emissions, we can't solve climate change, and to impose costs on our own businesses and consumers in order to accelerate Net Zero when the rest of the world is not doing so – I don't understand the logic behind it, or shutting down our own oil and gas industry in circumstances where, again, I don't know another country in the world that's doing that.' It was put to him that his suggestion ultimately meant that Mr Miliband's position in Government as Energy Secretary was untenable. Sir Tony replied: 'It's really a question of explaining to the country, and to Ed, that right now we need to get growth levels up, we need to recognise with this AI revolution that we're going to need cheap energy.' He added that 'it's not a question of ripping up the idea of clean energy, it's a question of abandoning what is an unnecessary accelerated target to fulfil that'. The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? 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