Tony Blair accuses Labour and Tories of being leaderless

Tony Blair has told European ambassadors that the UK does not have a leader either in the Conservative party or the Labour party, but insisted parliament could still meet the 12 April deadline for a new proposal on Brexit.

Speaking to the ambassadors for the third time in recent months over breakfast on Friday, Blair said he believed but was not certain that Theresa May would be defeated next week if she put her proposal to a third meaningful vote.

He said the key development would be whether parliament could come to an agreement on what form of Brexit it favoured in next week’s planned indicative votes.

Blair, a supporter of a second referendum, said it was even possible that if a hard Brexit of the form proposed by Theresa May was supported by MPs, some Conservative MPs would want that deal put to the British people in a referendum so that ownership of the decision was shared between parliament and the public.

The former prime minister was questioned by the ambassadors on whether such a referendum could heal the UK’s divisions or simply prolong the country’s agony. Some ambassadors, deeply opposed to Brexit in principle, have come to the view that the UK should go ahead and leave simply to keep the social fabric of the country intact.

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Blair argued that the country was already divided and that a referendum conducted properly could be part of a healing process. He said it was better that the country made the right decision.

Some of Blair’s strongest criticism was directed at the quality of leadership in the country, saying the UK in effect had no leadership in either the Conservative or Labour parties.

Some European ambassadors based in the UK believe that if MPs can find support for an option other than May’s deal in the indicative votes next week, that in itself would be sufficient for the EU to grant a lengthy extension to the UK.

European diplomats accept that the EU’s requirement that the UK stage European parliamentary elections if it wants an extension will be difficult for the UK to swallow. But they say the clear legal advice to the European commission was that all decisions of the European parliament risked being open to legal challenge if the UK remained an EU member without holding elections.

It is possible, but unlikely.

The deal Theresa May agreed with the EU says that if her withdrawal agreement is not passed by Parliament by 29 March, then the UK will be granted a short Article 50 extension until 12 April 2019 to propose an alternative way forward.

That might be leaving the European Union without a deal on the 12 April 2019, or requesting a longer extension period. If the latter, then the UK would be expected to take part in European Parliamentary Elections scheduled for between 23 May and 26 May.

If her deal is approved next week, the UK will leave the European Union the day before the elections are held on 22 May 2019.

The diplomatic sources revealed that senior politicians privately had been urging May for months to try to build consensus but had come to the conclusion that either the confrontational nature of UK politics at Westminster or May’s uncollegiate personality made compromise impossible.

The sources also revealed there was some tension between the European commission and the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, about his approach to Brexit.

Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, warned Corbyn that there was a serious risk of a no-deal Brexit by accident. Corbyn was said to have replied gruffly: “That is not our policy.” It is understood he did not engage with the argument that his rejection of May’s deal was making no deal more likely.