Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair intervened on Wednesday in the Labour Party's internal crisis with an essay of more than 5,600 words published on the website of his organization, the Tony Blair Institute, in which he demands that his party colleagues abandon ideological disputes, adopt what he calls a “radical centre,” and formulate a national project before contesting the party's leadership. “Trying to remove a prime minister before even knowing what new political direction is being proposed is not a way to behave,” the former Labour leader wrote, in an intervention that has received no public backing from the party's main figures.

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