Ex-PM Tony Blair lays out 'advice' to new UK leader
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Former British prime minister Tony Blair couched his “advice” in an article about harnessing the power of AI.
PHOTO: AFP
Follow topic:
LONDON – Former Labour prime minister Tony Blair made an early intervention in British politics on July 7 after Mr Keir Starmer’s landslide election victory,
Mr Blair warned Mr Starmer, who is beginning his second full day as prime minister with a visit to Scotland, that the anti-immigration Reform UK Party also poses a challenge to Labour, not just the Conservative Party.
The Reform UK, led by Brexit firebrand Nigel Farage, maximised the damage to the Conservatives at the election by splitting the right-wing vote.
It won five seats in the Westminster Parliament and 14 per cent of the vote, prompting Mr Farage to warn that it will target Labour voters next.
In a piece headlined “My advice to Keir Starmer”, Mr Blair wrote in British newspaper The Sunday Times that “all over the Western world, traditional political parties are suffering disruption”.
“Where the system allows new entrants to emerge, they are running riot everywhere. Look at France or Italy.
“We need a plan to control immigration. If we don’t have rules, we get prejudices,” he added.
Mr Blair, the only Labour leader to lead his party to three consecutive election victories, starting with his own landslide win in 1997, couched his “advice” in an article about harnessing the power of artificial intelligence (AI).
He said he believed digital ID technology offered the best solution to controlling irregular immigration, a key issue on the doorstep during the election campaign.
“We should move as the world is moving to digital ID. If not, new border controls will have to be highly effective,” he wrote.
The government, however, ruled out the introduction of digital ID cards after Business Minister Jonathan Reynolds initially said new Home Secretary Yvette Cooper would be looking at “all sources of advice” on the issue.
Mr Reynolds later rejected the introduction of ID cards, saying: “We can rule that out, that’s not something that’s part of our plans.”
Other suggestions from Mr Blair included “a tough new approach to law and order” due to the fact that “at present criminal elements are modernising faster than law enforcement”.
And he said the government should “avoid any vulnerability on ‘wokeism’”, warning against policies that many might regard as overly politically correct. AFP
