Tony Blair ‘returning to politics’ because he thinks Theresa May ‘is a lightweight’

• Posted on November 21, 2016
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

Tony Blair is positioning himself to return to British politics, it has been reported.

The controversial former Prime Minister is engineering a comeback because he feels he can fill a political vacuum caused by Theresa May being a “light weight” and Jeremy Corbyn being a “nutter”, The Sunday Times reports. A source said Mr Blair is sourcing premises near Westminster in order to relocate 130 staff to the UK’s political hub.

A source allegedly told the newspaper: “He’s not impressed with Theresa May. He thinks she’s a total lightweight. He thinks Jeremy Corbyn’s a nutter and the Tories are screwing up Brexit. He thinks there’s a massive hole in British politics that he can fill.”

In response, a representative or Mr Blair reportedly said he has not made a decision to relocate the company there.

Since leaving Downing Street in 2007, Mr Blair has worked on a number of international political projects including charity work, diplomacy and work as an envoy for the Middle East. He established Tony Blair Associations to “provide, in partnership with others, strategic advice on a commercial and pro bono basis, on political and economic trends and governmental reform.”

Due to his controversial instigation of Britain’s involvement in the Iraq War, Mr Blair has focused primarily on international politics, while avoiding involvement in British issues.

Two weeks after the Brexit vote, the Chilcot Inquiry released a damning assessment of Mr Blair’s decision to invade the country. The former Labour politician has stood by his decision and said he was acting in what he believed was good faith based on intelligence information he had seen regarding the invasion.

In October, Mr Blair called for a second Brexit referendum to be held when it becomes clearer what EU withdrawal would actually look like. He said: “If you want to retain that access to the single market there will be various obligations that are imposed upon you, in relation to the free movement of people, to legal obligations…you are going to have to work out at that point, ‘are the freedoms that we’re going to enjoy…really so substantial that we want to leave the European Union?’ 

“Another possibility is that you actually go for a much harder form of Brexit, you leave the single market altogether…then you’re going to be able to calculate, how much pain, how much difficulty, economic/social restructuring, is going to be necessary to make a success of that.”

Mr Blair added that people supporting Remain are: “the insurgents now. We have to build the capability to mobilise and to organise. We have to prise apart the alliance which gave us Brexit.”

-Independent.co.uk