Published 20:05 IST, December 18th 2019
Election result 'brought shame on us': Former Labour Party leader Tony Blair
Former Prime Minister of Britain and Labour Party's most successful election winner, Tony Blair urged the Party moderators to 'renew' itself or be 'replaced'.
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Former Prime Minister of Britain and Labour Party's most successful election winner, Tony Blair urged the Party moderators to 'renew' itself or be 'replaced'. On December 18, Blair also said that Labour party members should take the control back from Jeremy Corbyn who had faced a crushing defeat in the snap general elections of December 12 and proved that his 'quasi-revolutionary socialism' had failed and even 'brought shame on us'.
In the face of historic Conservative win, Corbyn called for a period of reflection after leading Labour into the worst election result since 1935. Blair, who had also a triumphant of three elections and was UK PM from 1997 to 2007 said that Labour Party's takeover by the far left had turned into a 'glorified protest' movement and made it 'utterly incapable' of being a credible government. Labour's British parliament vote share fell by 7.8 per cent points to 32.2 per cent. Corbyn's party candidates were able to bag only 203 seats while the re-elected British PM Boris Johnson 's Conservatives won a thumping 365 seats.
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Blair also said that unless his former party changed its course, it also faced a threat of never coming into power against a decade of Conservative rule. The former UK PM also believes that to stand against its main competition, Labour will have to become 'serious, progressive, non-Conservative' power of British politics. Blair not only chided Corbyn for Labour's defeat because his set of ideas failed to attract voters' interests. Blair said that what Labour proposed in the recent elections was 'cry of rage against the system' instead of a 'programme for government' and therefore the party needs 'self-discipline, not indulgence'.
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Corbyn says 'I'm sorry'
Corbyn apologised to Labour supporters on December 14 after facing a crushing defeat in the general elections of December 12. In his letter to a media outlet, Corbyn said he 'takes full responsibility' of the outcome but believes that the Labour party has built a new movement over the last four years and therefore, their 'time will come'. Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservatives acquired a historic majority in the recent polls and clinched 365 seats in the British Parliament. Citizens of the United Kingdom clearly chose Johnson's Brexit referendum of January 31, 2020, over Corbyn's six-month delay to negotiate another agreement over Britain's divorce from the 27-nation bloc.
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(With agency inputs)
19:53 IST, December 18th 2019