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Sir Tony Blair said Labour’s principal problem was not Sir Keir Starmer’s personality, but rather his policy failures |
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Nick Gutteridge Chief Political Correspondent |
On Sunday, a euphoric Sir Keir Starmer watched his beloved Arsenal lift the Premier League title for the first time in 22 years. Two days later, he was fighting off claims from Sir Tony Blair that he was leading Britain towards relegation from the top flight of nations.
The former prime minister delivered his football-themed warning in an excoriating 5,700-word essay that went in studs up on Starmer’s record in office and cast doubt over his future as the country’s manager.
Central to his criticism was that the Prime Minister, who won a landslide victory two years ago on the back of a pledge to transform Britain, had no plan actually to do so. Instead, he said, the Starmer administration had retreated into Labour’s classic Left-wing “comfort zone” of high taxes and red tape, which had crippled growth.
Blair did not spare Labour’s leadership hopefuls either. He warned it would be “dangerous” for the party to lurch to the Left under Andy Burnham, and derided Wes Streeting’s focus on rejoining the EU, saying it “isn’t the answer” to Britain’s problems.
Until now, the former prime minister had largely kept his criticisms of the Government to himself, but with the party embroiled in a leadership crisis, he has seemingly run out of patience. Now, the gloves are off.
This report is available only to subscribers.
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Allison Pearson The world’s least curious wife apparently didn’t blink as Peter Murrell stole £400k of SNP funds Continue reading ➤
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard The electric car takeover is now unstoppable Continue reading ➤
Jake Wallis Simons I backed Trump’s war against Iran. But he’s messed up badly Continue reading ➤ |
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A man in Lyme Regis, Dorset, backflips into the sea from the Cobb harbour wall |
War in the Middle East has been bountiful for BP, as its traders raked in huge profits from surging oil prices. However, the jubilation has been short-lived after its chairman was ousted following claims of “verbal abuse” towards colleagues. Now, questions about the board’s judgment and BP’s future strategy are rightly being asked. Yet, an even bigger concern exists: has a company on its fifth chief executive and fourth chairman in six years become ungovernable? For subscribers only ➤ |
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Oleg Gordievsky escaped from Russia to Finland in the boot of a car |
For more than a decade, regulars at a Surrey pub knew him only as Anton: a quiet retiree partial to quiche and Scotch. In reality, he was Oleg Gordievsky, the MI6 mole credited with helping avert nuclear catastrophe during the Cold War. Samuel Montgomery and Tim Sigsworth explain how a Soviet defector who once outwitted the Kremlin ended his days on a sleepy street in Godalming. Continue reading ➤ |
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Labour won the 2024 general election with the backing of almost half of all young voters, and has repaid them with a youth unemployment crisis. With 729,000 young people out of work, many of whom lost their jobs as a direct result of Rachel Reeves’s tax-and-spend Budgets, we are on the cusp of producing a lost generation. Continue reading ➤ |
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Five children later, Sybilla Hart says her marriage remains the most precious part of her life |
After 21 years of marriage and five children, writes Sybilla Hart, I have made a choice that many parents may find surprising: I prioritise my marriage over my offspring. From weekday lunch dates to resisting child-centred weekends, I’ve found that not only is my marriage happier, but my children are more secure, too. Continue reading ➤ |
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Peeping Tom scandalised audiences with its unsettling portrait of voyeurism in 1960 |
Charismatic drug barons, sadomasochistic cameramen, mad scientists – British films used to be bonkers, and brilliant, writes David Alexander. Since the 1960s, though, we’ve lost our filmmaking ambition and sense of national eccentricity. Now we endlessly peddle grim kitchen-sink realism or middle-class froth. This is how it all went wrong for British film. Continue reading ➤ |
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Georgie cooked everything from a whole roast chicken to croissants in the Ninja Crispi Pro |
Like it or not, air fryers are now ubiquitous and glass models are particularly popular for their “forever-chemical free” credentials, writes Georgie D’Arcy Coles. These substances can be found in non-stick coatings, but are only a concern if scratched. For anyone curious about the glass models, I reviewed Ninja’s latest version, which is sizable enough to fit your Sunday joint.
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Here is another article I hope you’ll find helpful this morning:
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Lisa Armstrong’s makeovers |
Do you have a fashion dilemma for Lisa? Send us your problems here and we’ll do our best to answer them in a future edition of this newsletter. Also, you can sign up to the Fashion and Beauty newsletter here. |
English eccentricitiesEvery weekday, Orlando Bird, our loyal reader correspondent, shares an off-piste topic that has brought out the best of your opinions and stories. Orlando writes...
Whatever happened to the great British eccentric? The Telegraph’s Abigail Buchanan recently went to find out. Despite sightings in Soho – once a prolific incubator – and on TikTok, her conclusion was dispiriting: the breed is in decline.
Many readers agreed that Britain has seen better, zanier days. Edwin Thornber wrote: “Back in the 1980s, my old man was regularly found in his local with his Jacob ram on a lead, sitting quietly at his feet while he supped his pint. Larry received many an admiring stroke.”
Richard Taylor had another appeal: “We also need to keep eccentric sports alive. One that I hope to try is Trugo, a unique Melbourne sport created by railway workers in the 1920s. Players use a mallet to hit rubber rings (originally train buffers) between their legs through goalposts on a 27m pitch. It’s like a mix of croquet and lawn bowls, with a great historical backstory.”
Yet we have also received reports of eccentrics continuing to roam happily, often with an animal in tow. According to Georgia Smith, “in Chippenham there’s a man who rides his shire horse into the town centre on Saturdays and sits outside Costa having a coffee.”
Lyndon Yorke added: “The Eccentric Club, whose roots stretch back to the 18th century, is alive and well, and has enjoyed royal patronage. The late Prince Philip was an honorary life member.
“On one memorable evening, we were honoured by his presence along with that of Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath, and Edward Douglas-Scott-Montagu, 3rd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu.”
William T Nuttall was a little sceptical: “Surely a prerequisite of being an eccentric is that you don’t realise that you are one.”
I think there may be something in this, as Vicki Lester’s account suggests: “We have an elderly friend who dresses as a Regency fop to go to the pub, and is, of course, is the centre of attention. In conversation he is almost unaware of his own eccentricity, and actually quite shy.” Are eccentrics an endangered species? Send your responses here and the best of the bunch will feature in a future edition of this newsletter.
Please confirm in your reply that you are happy to be featured and that we have your permission to use your name. |
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1849 | The Great Hall at Euston station is opened
1937 | Pedestrians walk on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco for the first time
1999 | The indictment of Slobodan Milošević for war crimes is formally announced (a story that featured on our front page the following day)
Birthdays: Jamie Oliver (51), Marjorie Taylor Greene (52), Paul Gascoigne (59)
Plus, in today’s news, a light show at Darling Harbour in Sydney ended in chaos as a swarm of 89 drones crashed into the water. What caused the tech mishap?
1. Hackers
2. A change in radio frequency
3. Local blackouts
4. Water damage
Click one of the options to reveal the answer... |
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Find as many words as you can in today’s Panagram, including the nine-letter solution. Visit Telegraph Puzzles to play a range of head-scratching games, including The 1% Club, Cogs, and Quick, Mini or Cryptic Crosswords.
Yesterday’s Panagram was ADDICTION. Come back tomorrow for the solution to today’s puzzle. |
Thank you for reading. Have a fulfilling day and I hope to see you tomorrow. Chris Evans, Editor
P.S. I’d love to hear what you think of this newsletter. You can email me your feedback here. |
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