Labour's Corbyn Says Blair Attack 'Silly'

Tony Blair has cautioned Labour members against selecting left-wing candidate Jeremy Corbyn warning "people who say their heart is with Corbyn, get a transplant".

Mr Blair warned the party not to repeat the mistakes of its 1980s politics and urged a fight against a lurch to the left and away from the party's modernising policies.

And he said the party must not make the mistake of treating the electorate as though they were stupid.

The former prime minister said that Mr Corbyn was the "Tory preference" and made a number of digs at the veteran MP saying; "people who say their heart is with Corbyn, get a transplant".

He said: "In these tough times it's tempting to be a platform for protest but if you don't form a platform for government you won't win."

Mr Corbyn responded by calling Mr Blair's "Tory preference" remark "rather silly" and added the former prime minister's "biggest problem is we're still waiting for the Chilcot report (into the Iraq War) to come out".

As the four candidates squared up in a hustings on LBC Radio, Chuka Umunna - early favourite until his shock withdrawal from the leadership race - told Sky News Tonight he would find it "very difficult indeed" to serve in a Jeremy Corbyn shadow cabinet.

He said: "I've got nothing against him personally but... I've got my views on how we recover our economic competence and he's sitting in a very different place to me.

"One thing I'm very clear about and the message I want to send to those voting - there are no free hits, you can not game the system.

"If you want someone other than Jeremy as the leader, who you believe the public will vote for as our prime minister, whether it's Andy or Yvette or Liz, then you have got to give them your first preference."

Earlier, the Labour MP for Islington North, who was a vociferous opponent to the UK's role in the Iraq conflict, gave a speech in London outlining his economic vision.

His policies would see a cut in subsidies for businesses and a "more progressive" tax system which would see the richest in society pay proportionally the greatest tax.

:: Who Is Jeremy Corbyn?

Mr Blair's rare intervention comes after a YouGov poll suggested some 43% of Labour supporters would back the anti-austerity candidate as the party's new leader.

Bookies' favourite Andy Burnham was on 26% while the remaining candidate Yvette Cooper was currently in third place on 20% in the poll, for The Times newspaper.

It also predicted Mr Corbyn would defeat Mr Burnham 53% to 47% in the final round.

In his strongest words yet about Labour's defeats in 2010 and 2015, Mr Blair said the party had lost because it had stepped away from its modernising platform and said it was "not sensible" to step even further away.

In a further dig at Ed Miliband's leadership he said the 2015 election was "out of the playbook of the 1980s - tax and spend, welfare". He said it was like going back to the"old days" and that it was "like going back to Star Trek or something".

Mr Blair said the party should fight the left and stop the Labour bus "going off the edge of the cliff".

Mr Blair urged Labour MPs not to fight UKIP by "playing their immigration game" and on the rise of the SNP in Scotland he said: "Nationalism is the oldest ideology in the world. It's the politics of the first caveman council."

The poll results are a setback for Blairites as their candidate Liz Kendall is trailing in last place on 11% when people were asked for their first preferences.

The former prime minister refused to back any of the candidates in the leadership race, saying it would not be appropriate and admitting it may not even help them.

However, he did say he thought it could be important that the deputy leader was a woman and moved the party away from "machine-style politics".

This has been widely interpreted as a dig at the MP Tom Watson, who the YouGov poll put as favourite to win the deputy leadership.

Mr Corbyn, who now enjoys the backing of the unions, is the 3-1 third favourite with Sky Bet to win the race - having previously been as long as 100-1 among some bookies.

He has been nominated by 71 local Labour associations - just one behind Mr Burnham.

Mr Corbyn had struggled to find the 30 MP supporters required to feature on the ballot paper and the latest poll results are likely to fuel a growing sense of panic in Labour's Blairite wing.

The Burnham camp has reacted to the poll by suggesting it shows the contest "is now a two horse race between Andy and Jeremy." Adding that it is "extremely bad for Yvette"

Ms Cooper rejected the poll's findings. Her spokesperson said: "This doesn't reflect our internal data and significantly understates the huge number of members and supporters giving Yvette their first preference."

Shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt compared Mr Corbyn's politics to the anti-austerity party Syriza in Greece and urged Labour members against a lurch to the populist left wing.

Mr Hunt, who is backing Liz Kendall in the Labour leadership contest, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme victory for Mr Corbyn would reduce the Labour party to a "protest group".

Former Labour Leader Margaret Beckett said she had been a "moron" for supporting Mr Corbyn's bid to enter the leadership race.

Sky's Deputy Political Editor Joey Jones said: "It’s an extraordinary situation the Labour Party finds itself in. This poll will send absolute convulsions through the party.

"When they look at who is the most rebellious MP, Jeremy Corbyn has won that on the Labour side three parliaments running.

"Yet he might be the leader in a few weeks' time. It's a complete mess that the Labour Party finds themselves in at the moment. It’s not head-scratching time but panic time."

Meanwhile, in the deputy leadership race, the poll suggested Mr Watson was leading on 42%, with Stella Creasy second on 21%, followed by Caroline Flint (17%), Ben Bradshaw (11%) and Angela Eagle (10%).