Tony Blair claims the UK is heading for 'lower league' status because Boris Johnson does not have a coherent plan for the long-term future of the nation as he delivers his first speech since backlash over his knighthood

  • Tony Blair said there is a 'gaping hole' in Whitehall 'where new ideas should be'
  • Ex-PM said UK is heading for 'lower league' status unless 'radical change' occurs
  • He accused Boris Johnson of failing to have a coherent strategy for future of UK 

Tony Blair today warned the UK is heading for 'lower league' status because Boris Johnson does not have a coherent strategy for the nation's long-term future. 

The former prime minister said Britain's standing on the world stage will continue to slip unless there is a 'radical change in the governing of the country and its politics'.  

Sir Tony said 'maybe Boris Johnson goes and maybe he doesn’t' over the Partygate scandal 'but the real problem for Britain is the absence of a Government plan for Britain’s future'. 

Sir Tony highlighted a trio of strategic challenges facing the country - the 'three revolutions' of changes resulting from Brexit, technological advances and climate change - but said the Government is 'ill-prepared' to address any of them.     

The comments were made by Sir Tony as he delivered his first speech since a ferocious backlash over his knighthood. 

More than one million people signed a petition calling for the New Year honour to be 'rescinded' because of the former premier's role in the Iraq war. 

A YouGov survey published earlier this month found that 63 per cent of Brits disapproved of the knighthood while 14 per cent approved. 

Tony Blair today warned the UK is heading for 'lower league' status because Boris Johnson does not have a coherent strategy for the nation's long-term future

Tony Blair today warned the UK is heading for 'lower league' status because Boris Johnson does not have a coherent strategy for the nation's long-term future

Sir Tony said 'maybe Boris Johnson goes and maybe he doesn’t' over the Partygate scandal 'but the real problem for Britain is the absence of a Government plan for Britain’s future'

Sir Tony said 'maybe Boris Johnson goes and maybe he doesn’t' over the Partygate scandal 'but the real problem for Britain is the absence of a Government plan for Britain’s future'

Sir Tony delivered the speech this morning at an event hosted by the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London. 

He said that 'we are living through three revolutionary changes simultaneously and are ill-prepared for any of them'.    

He said: 'There is a gaping hole in the governing of Britain where new ideas should be.'

Sir Tony said he understood the public anger at Mr Johnson over the Partygate furore but insisted the 'real problem' is the PM's lack of a plan for the future of the country. 

‘I understand completely the rage against what happened in Downing Street during lockdown and how the country feels,' he said.

‘And maybe Boris Johnson goes and maybe he doesn’t. But the real problem for Britain is the absence of a Government plan for Britain’s future.’

Sir Tony said turning the nation's 'fortunes around' will require 'hard' choices because 'old ways, old interests, old thinking, don’t go gently'. 

‘But neither should a country, especially one with such a proud history as ours, slip gently into a lower league without a strenuous effort at least to prevent it,' he said.

‘Yet without a radical change in the governing of the country and its politics this is where we are headed and this is the debate in my view that Britain needs.’

Sir Tony said the Government is failing to grasp challenges across a myriad of policy areas. 

‘The point is we can’t go on as we are, even in an area as politically delicate as the NHS, and you could make this case across the whole of public policy,' he said. 

‘We need to apply technology to areas like crime and immigration where the only sensible way of preventing illegal immigration is a system of digital identity.

A YouGov poll at the start of January found almost two thirds of Brits disapprove of Sir Tony getting the honour

A YouGov poll at the start of January found almost two thirds of Brits disapprove of Sir Tony getting the honour

‘We need to shift tax from labour and capital, especially post-Brexit, find other sources fo revenue so that our tax system is not colliding with our competitiveness.

‘And to rethink pensions of the next generation where apart from the burgeoning cost, the circumstances of retirement will be completely different in the next generation from today.

‘Fuel duty will probably have to be replaced by some form of road pricing and the point is this list is not exhaustive. 

'But not a single thing we need to do to turn our fortunes around will come without political pain and our politics show few if any signs of preparedness to tolerate that pain.’

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