Tony Blair: Vote tactically to force Boris Johnson into new referendum

Tony Blair today urged Labour supporters to vote tactically for another hung parliament to force Boris Johnson to hold a fresh referendum on Brexit.

The former prime minister, who won three general elections for Labour, suggested that voters should back independent former Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in seats where they stood a better chance than his own party of beating Tory candidates.

“We should look at this election seat by seat,” he said. “There are good, solid mainstream, independent-minded MPs and candidates in both parties.”

Mr Blair undermined his appeal by admitting, when answering questions, that he would vote Labour in Cities of London & Westminster, where Lib Dem Chuka Umunna is seeking tactical votes from Labour supporters. He argued that he was in a special position, as former leader, to back the party.

Mr Blair’s former lieutenant Alastair Campbell was expelled by Labour for backing the Lib Dems in European elections.

Speaking at a Reuters Newsmaker event, Mr Blair sidestepped a question on whether he thought Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was a “fit” person to become prime minister. The former PM replied that he thought Labour’s chances of forming a majority government were “negligible” at the moment.

In his speech he said he “wouldn’t trust Boris Johnson with a blank cheque”, adding: “Like many, I have been campaigning for great Labour candidates because we know Parliament will be poorer without them. I am sure the same is true of the Conservative Party and there are those who were expelled for their moderation also standing.

“The Lib Dems can’t form a government; but they can play an important role in who does govern.”

He added: “This election is the weirdest of my lifetime. But once you realise it is not conventional, you are liberated to think unconventionally.”

Mr Umunna has called on Labour to step aside in London battlegrounds where new polling suggested the Lib Dems had a better chance of winning.

Deltapoll has staged surveys in six marginals in recent days, with results suggesting the Lib Dems are pushing Labour into third in Cities of London and Westminster, Finchley and Golders Green, Wimbledon and Kensington.

The polls suggested that if voters chose between the Conservatives and just one other party, the Lib Dems benefited more from tactical voting and were therefore more likely to win.

“It is clear that the Lib Dems are able to take seats from the Tories which Labour can’t,” Mr Umunna said.

“To stop Brexit and stop Boris Johnson getting a majority, so we can secure a People’s Vote in the next Parliament, it is vital to reduce the number of Tory MPs. In this context, it is ridiculous for Labour to be deploying any significant resource in seats it has no hope of winning from Tories.”

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