New Labour, New Cadre?

Since this heat does not lend itself well to sleep, I have read Tony Blair so that you do not have to. Blairites, it is not whether I agree with Peter Mandelson’s front man. It is whether you do. For example:

I don’t believe with the Trump Presidency we’re witnessing a ‘rupture’.

To be clear, we were never asked to ‘join’ America’s military action in Iran and, never having been part of the planning for such a mission, could not have been part of it. The initial request was simply for the use of our military bases for the refuelling of American planes. I understand the reasons for refusal but it’s not the best way to treat our ally.

Not for full articulation here [why not?], but we need a functioning relationship with the other superpower: China. Keir Starmer was absolutely right to visit. We have major points of disagreement with China but the idea we can afford to ignore China or treat China as if we were dealing with a modern version of the Soviet Union is profoundly mistaken. The Western alliance should be strong enough to deal with whatever comes from China; but stay engaged with it and where viable, cooperate with it.

There is a developing sense that as the country becomes more ‘European’, and British opinion moves against Brexit, then at some point it is ripe to enter a debate about ‘going back’. This is not a strategy.

The net-zero acceleration ... The prime minister and the chancellor should have said right at the outset: these are commitments which economic circumstances have rendered unwise to proceed with.

We should deal by whatever means with small boats.

Not civil-service retraining, but a new cadre of workforce, with the specialist technical skills necessary to do systemic change. Departments effectively run by ministers not exclusively from the ranks of Parliament if they have the necessary experience and capability in change management, with special provision for them to be accountable.

On that last point, Dominic Cummings rides again. So, David Miliband, Alastair Campbell, John Rentoul, David Aaronovitch, Oliver Kamm, Philip Collins, and all the rest, do you agree with those statements? And if Blair’s entire programme, which no sitting Labour MP appears to have welcomed, is still acceptable within the Labour Party, then will Blair, who is seven years younger than Donald Trump, be Labour’s candidate at the next parliamentary by-election after the three on 18 June? If not, why not?