LONDON: Tony Blair, who led Labour to victory in three UK elections, called on the party on Tuesday to shun the temptation to move left or reverse Brexit to shore up its fortunes, and to concentrate on policy rather than personality. As Labour gears up for a possible leadership contest, Blair, the party’s longest-serving premier between 1997 and 2007, spoke out in a more than 5,000-word essay, taking aim at Prime Minister Keir Starmer and two of his rivals, Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and former health minister Wes Streeting.

The former PM said Britain is in a "long slide towards relegation from the Premier League of Nations.”

Intervention by former PM feels almost designed to inflict maximum annoyance on his party