Miliband and Blair to meet for tense showdown after row over Labour being reduced to a 'party of protest'
Ed Miliband is to meet with Tony Blair this week in an attempt to heal the rift which threatens to split the Labour party.
The tense showdown comes after Mr Blair wrote a damning critique of Labour’s strategy, warning against relaying on being a ‘repository for people's anger’ to win votes.
But in a brutal slapdown, Mr Miliband dismissed the former Prime Minister insisting it was time to ‘move on’ from the ‘mistakes’ he made when in power.
In the wake of the row a string of
New Labour heavyweights rowed in behind Mr Blair, arguing Labour needed
to set out a positive alternative for voters rather than simply
criticising the status quo.
The secret meeting between Mr Blair and Mr Miliband was revealed on live TV by Dame Tessa Jowell, an arch-Blairite who stood down from the Labour frontbench after the London Olympics.
It is understood the crisis talks could be held on Wednesday, the same day as Baroness Thatcher's funeral which both men are expected to attend.
A senior Labour source said: 'Ed and Tony meet from time to time. No one should find that surprising.'
Mr Miliband is under pressure to make major gains in next month’s local elections under his One Nation banner, particularly making ground in the crucial southern seats needed to win a general election.
In a new ICM/Guardian poll Mr Miliband's net ratings have reached a new low.
A majority of 51 per cent of people said he was doing a bad job, against only 28 per cent who said he is doing a good job, creating a net rating of -23, well below a previous low of -17 in December 2011.
The Tories claim his current poll rating means Labour should win an extra 1,000 seats but aides to Mr Miliband claim winning 200 is more likely.
Some Labour MPs were left aghast at Mr Miliband’s reaction to advice from Mr Blair on how to win elections.
Mr Blair warned the party is in danger of repeating the mistakes made when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister and it slumped to its worst ever general election result in 1983.
In a direct challenge to Mr Miliband's current strategy, he warned the way to win elections is 'we don’t tack right on immigration and Europe, and tack left on tax and spending'.
Mr Blair added: 'It keeps us out of our comfort zone but on a centre ground that is ultimately both more satisfying and more productive for party and country.'
Writing in the New Statesman, he said: ‘The Labour Party is back as the party opposing 'Tory cuts', highlighting the cruel consequences of the Conservative policies on welfare and representing the disadvantaged and vulnerable.’
He said the scenario was ‘menacing’ for
Labour, adding: 'The ease with which it can settle back into its old
territory of defending the status quo, allying itself, even anchoring
itself, to the interests that will passionately and often justly oppose
what the government is doing, is so apparently rewarding, that the
exercise of political will lies not in going there, but in resisting the
temptation to go there.’
Over the weekend three former Cabinet
ministers – John Reid, David Blunkett and Tessa Jowell – urged the
Labour leader to follow Mr Blair’s advice.
Lord Reid, who held nine Cabinet posts, said Labour will not be ready for government until it spells out policies on key issues.
He said: 'The important thing is to recognise that, as you move from the politics of opposition to the politics of a potential government, that you have to be offering solutions and not just criticising the status quo.’
Mr Blunkett, a former Home Secretary, said Mr Blair and others were trying to provoke debate about the party’s future.
He added: ‘We’ve got to have the confidence to be able to say where we’re going, not just a narrative about what the Government is doing.
‘One Nation cannot and should never be simply the avoidance of the most obvious injustice or collective suicide. It has to be about a great deal more than politics built on grievance and the unhappiness of a resentful and selfish public sphere.’
Today, former culture secretary Dame Tessa Jowell stepped up her call for Mr Miliband to spell out his vision for Britain.
She told BBC2's Daily Politics the party's local elections campaign had to respond 'to the bread and butter day-by-day issues that people are concerned about'.
She added: 'Labour’s not living in a comfort zone. We’re not a party of protest. We’ve got a vigorous campaign in these local elections.'
And she revealed the meeting between the two men, adding: 'They will meet and talk this week.'
The tense showdown comes after Mr Blair wrote a damning critique of Labour’s strategy, warning against relaying on being a ‘repository for people's anger’ to win votes.
But in a brutal slapdown, Mr Miliband dismissed the former Prime Minister insisting it was time to ‘move on’ from the ‘mistakes’ he made when in power.
Head-to-head: Labour leader Ed Miliband,
pictured leaving his London home today, is to hold a meeting this week
with Tony Blair who warned against becoming a a 'party of protest'
The secret meeting between Mr Blair and Mr Miliband was revealed on live TV by Dame Tessa Jowell, an arch-Blairite who stood down from the Labour frontbench after the London Olympics.
It is understood the crisis talks could be held on Wednesday, the same day as Baroness Thatcher's funeral which both men are expected to attend.
A senior Labour source said: 'Ed and Tony meet from time to time. No one should find that surprising.'
Mr Miliband is under pressure to make major gains in next month’s local elections under his One Nation banner, particularly making ground in the crucial southern seats needed to win a general election.
In a new ICM/Guardian poll Mr Miliband's net ratings have reached a new low.
A majority of 51 per cent of people said he was doing a bad job, against only 28 per cent who said he is doing a good job, creating a net rating of -23, well below a previous low of -17 in December 2011.
The Tories claim his current poll rating means Labour should win an extra 1,000 seats but aides to Mr Miliband claim winning 200 is more likely.
Mr Miliband, pictured campaigning in Cambridge today, broke his wrist while on a walking holiday in Devon with his wife Justine
A medical support could be just seen emerging from his left cuff while on the campaign trail today
Mr Blair warned the party is in danger of repeating the mistakes made when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister and it slumped to its worst ever general election result in 1983.
In a direct challenge to Mr Miliband's current strategy, he warned the way to win elections is 'we don’t tack right on immigration and Europe, and tack left on tax and spending'.
Mr Blair added: 'It keeps us out of our comfort zone but on a centre ground that is ultimately both more satisfying and more productive for party and country.'
Writing in the New Statesman, he said: ‘The Labour Party is back as the party opposing 'Tory cuts', highlighting the cruel consequences of the Conservative policies on welfare and representing the disadvantaged and vulnerable.’
Mr Miliband was once an aide to Gordon Brown
(left) and has tried to distance himself from the era of Mr Blair's New
Labour government
Dame Tessa Jowell, an arch-Blairite, revealed the secret meeting on live TV today
Lord Reid, who held nine Cabinet posts, said Labour will not be ready for government until it spells out policies on key issues.
He said: 'The important thing is to recognise that, as you move from the politics of opposition to the politics of a potential government, that you have to be offering solutions and not just criticising the status quo.’
Mr Blunkett, a former Home Secretary, said Mr Blair and others were trying to provoke debate about the party’s future.
He added: ‘We’ve got to have the confidence to be able to say where we’re going, not just a narrative about what the Government is doing.
‘One Nation cannot and should never be simply the avoidance of the most obvious injustice or collective suicide. It has to be about a great deal more than politics built on grievance and the unhappiness of a resentful and selfish public sphere.’
Today, former culture secretary Dame Tessa Jowell stepped up her call for Mr Miliband to spell out his vision for Britain.
She told BBC2's Daily Politics the party's local elections campaign had to respond 'to the bread and butter day-by-day issues that people are concerned about'.
She added: 'Labour’s not living in a comfort zone. We’re not a party of protest. We’ve got a vigorous campaign in these local elections.'
And she revealed the meeting between the two men, adding: 'They will meet and talk this week.'
- Former foreign secretary David Miliband formally stepped down as an MP today. Mr Miliband was appointed as Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead - one of the traditional ways of resigning from the Commons. Labour is expected to call the by-election for his safe South Shields seat on May 2, to coincide with local polls.