Blair Says Election Would Result in ‘Comfortable Tory Majority’ as Voters Fear Corbyn Govt

Former British prime minister Tony Blair gives a speech at the Institute for Government in
Aaron Chown/Pool via AP
Victoria Friedman

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has said Labour should reject a potential snap election, in case voters rally behind Boris Johnson and the Tories over fear of a Corbyn-led Labour government.

Under a Jeremy Corbyn leadership, Mr Blair said that Labour would “struggle” in a General Election, adding: “The opposition vote is going to split and under our system, that delivers a comfortable Tory majority.”

Mr Blair made the comments at the Institute for Government on Monday morning — hours before sources revealed to media that Johnson has called his Cabinet for an extraordinary meeting this evening amidst speculation that the prime minister will request a snap election. Boris Johnson’s plans to deliver Brexit, with or without a deal on October 31st, are set to face opposition from Remainer MPs when the House returns on Tuesday.

“Should the government seek an election, it should be refused in favour of a referendum,” Mr Blair said, claiming the prospective offer of an election was an “elephant trap” for Labour.

“The Brexiteers are laying a trap to seem as if pushed into an election whilst actively preparing for one,” he said.

The progressive-globalist politician then admitted that voters “fear” the prospect of a Labour government led by the socialist Jeremy Corbyn, saying if Mr Johnson takes the issue of Corbyn’s leadership and “mixes it up with the Brexit question” in a General Election “he could succeed” because “some may fear a Corbyn premiership more” than a no deal Brexit — an observation supported by a recent poll which found that Britons would rather have a no deal Brexit over having Corbyn as prime minister and a second referendum.

If Prime Minister Johnson’s Brexit plans are thwarted this week and he requests a General Election, he would need a two-thirds majority of the House of Commons to back him, meaning Labour would have to agree to a snap election.

Corbyn, who took Labour further to the left following the ‘third-way’ centrist years under Blair and Gordon Brown, ignored his predecessor’s advice, saying he would back a General Election “under any circumstance, at any time”.

The far-left Labour leader, who wants a second referendum, said that his party is “working with other parties to do everything necessary to pull our country back from the brink” to stop a no deal Brexit, claiming that “unless we stop Johnson’s government now, it is a headlong rush into the arms of Donald Trump”.

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