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Sir Tony Blair has warned Labour against forcing out Sir Keir Starmer without having a proper policy agenda to follow him, as he launched a criticism of the Government’s time in office. The former prime minister, who is the only Labour leader to win three general elections, argued the Government needs a “fundamental reset” less than two years after it won the election. James Hanson is a big fan of Blair's ideas, so he passed the mic to LBC's listeners to ask: Do we need him back? 00:00: Lee thinks he's no good, and that Britain needs a working man, like Boris Johnson. 3:12: Hassan, an Iraqi, sings the praises of Blair and Bush's actions in the Middle East. 06:04: Joe thinks Blair was 'no good', and especially didn't like his introduction of the national minimum wage #jameshanson #tonyblair #keirstarmer #ukpolitics #labour #debate #lbc
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0:00
I'd like to say that Tony Blair is no good
0:03
None of these politicians are any good. You need a working man from a working background
0:08
The closest we got to that was Boris, and he was a bit crazy. Well, he wasn't from a working-class background, was he
0:13
I'm saying the closest we got to it was Boris. Well, Keir Starmer is more working-class than Boris Johnson
0:19
Keir Starmer, we won't get on to him, because otherwise this turned into a swearing. Yeah, but he's objectively more working-class than Boris Johnson
0:27
He's for the rich. He's for everyone else. He's not for the working class
0:32
He's not for the... You take my point that he's a son of a toolmaker
0:36
He is more working class, objectively, than Boris Johnson. Boris Johnson is..
0:40
He was a bit more sort of a man's man sort of thing
0:45
where he would look out for the working man. But, I mean, we won't get on to Starmer
0:52
He's ruined this country. But I work for a council, and the budgets are being slashed left, right and centre
1:02
You're repairing rather than replacing. It's just like the poorer get poorer, the rich get richer
1:09
Put a working man with work ethic teams into power, get him to sort this country out
1:15
He will know what the people need, rich or poor. But, Billy, let me ask you about some of the specific things
1:22
that Tony Blair has suggested, because I would suggest that you won't actually disagree with a lot of it
1:28
So he said, for example, that we need to reform the planning system
1:32
to make it easier to build. Do you agree with that? Yeah, but not on all the green belts
1:38
He said we need to be drilling in the North Sea for oil and gas
1:42
and we need to prioritise cheap energy over clean energy. Do you agree with that? I agree with that, yeah
1:46
You agree with that? He said we need to do whatever it takes to solve the issue of illegal immigration
1:50
Do you agree? I agree Whatever it takes we do need to solve illegal immigration not immigration He called for the north of England to be re Do you agree with that Yeah Yeah He said that we need to have lower taxes
2:05
Do you agree with that? Well, I don't think... Well, it depends on taxes
2:11
I mean, look at the police, the ambulance, the NHS. I don't think they're paid enough
2:15
And this is coming from someone who ain't a favour of the police
2:20
They do a great job. I mean, they should be paid more. He said that NHS needs to move from cure to prevention
2:28
so we need to be preventing more illnesses as opposed to just treating the cure. Do you agree with that
2:34
It depends on the illnesses. How do you prevent, you know, a lot of illnesses
2:39
But the point is, Lee, on a lot of that there, you haven't actually disagreed with too much of it
2:45
And I think he's speaking sense. He's had his chance. Yeah, well, I mean, look, he's never going to be back in Downing Street
2:54
I mean, I can dream. I can posit it as a possibility
2:59
But let's be honest, he's never going to, well, he's certainly never going to be elected Labour leader again
3:03
not after some of the stuff he said this week. It's not a particularly left-wing agenda, which is kind of why I like it
3:08
Lee, thank you. Lee, new caller in Norfolk. I want to bring in Hassan in Glasgow
3:12
Afternoon, Hassan. What's your take on Tony Blair then? Good afternoon, James
3:16
My take is this, that Tony Blair did do a good thing in removing Saddam Hussein or helped in doing that
3:29
I speak as someone who was born in Iraq, but my family and I immigrated to the UK in 2005
3:38
Hassan, you are an Iraqi calling in to praise Tony Blair. Yes, because Tony Blair and George Bush did a good thing in removing a brutal dictator
3:50
who is responsible for the killing of more than half a million of people Now in any book by any standard throughout history
4:06
if a man who's responsible for chemical gassing people for making 280,000 cubs disappear
4:15
in what's known as the Anfal campaign, you can Google it, you can look it up yourself
4:22
that's a good result. So the people who say Tony Blair's a war criminal..
4:27
I understand. OK, they say Tony Blair went under forced, he was a weapons of mass destruction
4:34
It doesn't matter. At the end of the day, the bottom line is they did a good thing
4:38
They removed a dictator who'd killed more than half a million people
4:43
The world is a better place without Saddam Hussein. Would you want Tony Blair back
4:48
Yes, why not? Have him back in Downing Street? Yes, much better than these ridiculous people, you know, Keir Starmer
4:59
Some would say he'd have us in another Middle Eastern war that would be involved with Trump in Iran if it was Blair in number 10
5:05
Well, why would it be a bad thing to remove these current dictators in Iran
5:10
where they killed 50,000 people or something in the space of a couple of months
5:16
just because they were protesting? Now, the point I'm making is this
5:21
But Tony Blair is not that bad a man because of Iraq
5:26
He did a good thing for the people of Iraq. He did a good thing for the people of the Middle East
5:31
because Saddam was a danger to all the nations around him. He attacked Iran. He attacked Kuwait
5:40
He would attack everyone he wanted. He was a madman. Hassan, going to have to leave it there, but thank you
5:46
I honestly didn't think that we would have an Iraqi calling in
5:50
to sing the praises of Tony Blair and to suggest he should be back in Downing Street this hour But that is the beauty of LBC Joe in Wellington Afternoon Joe What would you like to say Good afternoon James James most of the large ones
6:05
your talkers, we're talking in terms of about negatives, right? Sorry, I should say
6:13
I had a stroke a while ago, so my flows don't come quickly. Oh, don't worry. Take your time, my friend
6:18
My brain's there, but not always the flow. What I was really large is saying
6:23
initially, right, I was agreeing with many of the other calls, right
6:27
But equally, my part was, because everybody else has done it, they already know he's a wrong one
6:32
But I was now talking about the domestic elements, Del. Number one, right, yeah, I put down, well, let me highlight as well
6:42
When Blair got the 1997 win, I should say, at that time the Treasury had what I would call a Goldilocks element
6:53
He had so much extra money around, so he could actually deal with so many items that were required in the man and the woman's street
7:04
But in reality, if there was a shortage of money, he may not have done it
7:09
But let's leave that to one side for a moment. So I'm talking about the background. Now, many people seem to think the minimum wage was a good idea
7:19
It's an unbelievable... rubbish, right? It was a catastrophe, right? Because if you remember, you know clearly now
7:30
it's become generational. It's all minimum wage or low income. I mean, it's unbelievable
7:38
Well, that's an interesting point you raise because Rishi Sunak was writing in the Sunday Times
7:43
I think last weekend, saying that the minimum wage being, having been increased to such an extent
7:48
is part of the reason we have high levels of youth unemployment, which has been in the news this week
7:53
because it is just too high now for some employers to be able to afford
7:57
Joe, thank you. Joan Wallington there
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