News Digest

Labour leadership election: Tony Blair warns Corbyn could mean ‘annihilation’

Tony Blair has stepped into the fray again to try to halt Jeremy Corbyn’s runaway campaign success in Britain’s Labour Party leadership race. The former Prime Minister has upped the rhetoric, writing in The Guardian newspaper that if Mr Corbyn is elected leader it could lead to the party’s “annihilation." Mr Blair’s latest intervention follows a YouGov poll suggesting Mr Corbyn could win in the first round with 53% of the vote. The metaphors couldn’t be stronger: Mr Blair goes on to say the party is not only walking "over the cliff’s edge,” but one with “jagged rocks below.” Earlier this week, his former spin doctor Alistair Campbell described the prospect of a Corbyn leadership as “a car crash”. It’s Mr Blair’s second intervention - last month he suggested Corbyn supporters should “get a heart transplant”. The veteran left-winger dismissed his warnings as “silly”.

If Jeremy Corbyn becomes leader it won’t be a defeat like 1983 or 2015 at the next election. It will mean rout, possibly annihilation.

Tony Blair

More than 600,000 people will vote in the leadership election, amid warnings of legal action should the party not pause the contest. Though the deadline for registering to vote has passes, the party insisted it will continue to verify those signed up and remove people who are not entitled to a vote. Corbyn’s surprise emergence as the apparent frontrunner in the race has led to calls for it to be re-run over allegations that it has been exploited by hard-left groups and political opponents including Conservative activists. But Mr Corbyn - who is the bookies’ favourite ahead of rivals Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall - said the public response to the leadership contest was proof of optimism that a popular, modern Labour Party could defeat the Tories. Labour said it has already excluded 1,200 members or supporters of another party.

All of our focus must be on channelling this extraordinary movement towards a united party that is able to find its confidence and defeat the Conservatives in 2020.

Jeremy Corbyn