With the Labour Party in turmoil following the loss of the Hartlepool by-election and the subsequent botched shadow cabinet reshuffle, questions are being asked about the leadership of Keir Starmer.
Does the former Director of Public Prosecutions have the charisma to match Boris Johnson? Could anyone realistically do better against a government spending lots of money and successfully vaccinating its population against a deadly pandemic?
As many wrestle these questions and more, one man has an answer: Time for Blair.
The Tories now have a 15 point lead
Time for Blair
— Andrew Adonis (@Andrew_Adonis) May 14, 2021
That’s the simple solution proposed by Andrew Adonis, the former Labour Cabinet minister in the 2000s who now sits in the House of Lords.
The proposition on its surface is pretty simple: bring back the man who steered Labour to a hat-trick of general elections, a man with a proven track record of success.
And he boiled it down to just three words. And used it again.
Just in case you’ve missed it –
Time for Blair
— Andrew Adonis (@Andrew_Adonis) May 14, 2021
The polls, however, don’t quite see it that way, with Andy Burnham and Jeremy Corbyn regarded as better placed than TB.
Would [X] do a better or worse job of leading the Labour party than Keir Starmer?
According to 2019 Labour voters:
Andy Burnham – ✅47% / ❌7%
Jeremy Corbyn – ✅35% / ❌43%
Tony Blair – ✅27% / ❌36%
Rebecca Long Bailey – ✅16% / ❌21%https://t.co/tXRHN7ikKrpic.twitter.com/RYIbQ30R2j— YouGov (@YouGov) May 14, 2021
But the argument seemed lost on most who engaged with the idea on Twitter, and there seemed to be three directions to take it.
The most popular was to reference Blair’s foreign policy, and implicit in all of them was the war in Iraq.
Time for Blair? I quite agree. Ten years in Belmarsh should do it.
— Count Binface (@CountBinface) May 14, 2021
Actually, it’s time for Blair to stand trial for his war crimes. Nothing else.
— Northern Independence Party 🟨🟥 (@FreeNorthNow) May 14, 2021
Time for Blair? Agree. Somewhere between 25 years and life would cover it.
— The Great Keithulhu (@joejglenton) May 14, 2021
Long past time for Blair to go to prison for his crimes against the people of Iraq and Palestine — and Britain, for that matter.
— Asa Winstanley (@AsaWinstanley) May 14, 2021
I’m not above enjoying the fact that #TimeForBlair has turned into ‘how many years in the clink’.
— Priyamvada Gopal (@PriyamvadaGopal) May 14, 2021
A second was to apply the maxim to the more trivial moments in life.
Might start saying “time for Blair” before sex
— Rob Palk (@robpalkwriter) May 14, 2021
me: ‘you can’t just respond to all of life’s problems with Tony Blair’
lord adonis: *stubs his toe* TIME FOR BLAIR https://t.co/J8U7XXz2MW
— ashikun (@NotHayashi) May 14, 2021
Or deliberately get confused about which famous Blair is being referenced.
