PM and Burnham turn fire on Blair: Starmer and his potential rival reject Sir Tony’s warning that the Labour party should not lurch into its Left-wing ‘comfort zone’

Infighting threatened to engulf Labour’s summit on Thursday, with the Prime Minister and Andy Burnham turning on Sir Tony Blair.

The Mayor of Manchester and Sir Keir Starmer have rejected the former Prime Minister’s harsh criticism of their policies.

In his 1,500-word response, Mr Burnham accused his former boss of rejecting Margaret Thatcher’s legacy and called for greater state control.

He attributed the economic success in Manchester to a ‘very interventionist’ approach and said markets should not determine policy.

The former Blair government minister hit out after Sir Tony warned the party against a ‘dangerous’ shift to the left in comments that appeared to be aimed at the mayor.

Mr. Burnham advocated for a more interventionist government, writing: Times: ‘The lesson from Greater Manchester is that you can’t just leave it to the market, as Tony’s article suggests.

‘If you want higher growth in areas that don’t have it, you need strong public control and direction over both the investment strategy and the elements that enable a more productive economy, such as transport, energy, water, education and housing.’

Mayor of Manchester Andy Burnham (pictured this month) responded to Blair’s warning by saying: ‘The Labor government that I was proud to serve did a lot of great things. But this did not divert us from the direction set by Thatcher.

Directly attacking Sir Tony, he added: ‘The Labor government I was proud to serve did many great things. But this did not divert us from the path set by Thatcher.

‘This has given us 40 years of neoliberalism and the simple truth is that it has not been kind to the communities of Makerfield and their counterparts in the UK. Trickle-down economics wasn’t much of a trickle after all.’

Mr Burnham also argued that political turmoil in Britain and the West was caused by falling living standards after the financial crisis of 2008 and that deregulation was to blame.

‘The decline in the living standards of millions of people and the fact that life has become harder year on year for many since the financial crisis of 2008 is, I believe, a clear disregard for this issue. [Blair’s] “analysis,” he said.

‘This has been a major driver of the turmoil in politics that he describes and the decline in support for traditional Right and Left parties both here and around the world.’

He also warned that Britain was drifting towards ‘a toxic, divisive politics like the US and the social harm that comes with it’.

Sir Keir, meanwhile, dismissed criticism of his predecessor’s leadership, arguing that his policies were vindicated.

Speaking during a visit to Acton Works train depot in West London, where he met apprentices training to become engineers, the Prime Minister said: ‘I agree with him that we need to have discussions about policy and ideas and that’s what makes policy, that should be the focus, so Tony is right about that.’

Sir Keir pointed to his policies on economic growth and investment in public services, as well as falling NHS waiting lists and immigration levels, as examples of his Government’s achievements.

Sir Keir Starmer (pictured earlier this month) later entered the debate, pointing to his policies for economic growth and investment in public services, as well as falling NHS waiting lists and immigration levels, as examples of his Government’s achievements.

He said: ‘My answer to Tony is: Yes, it’s right to talk about politics, it’s right to talk about ideas, that’s where the debate should be.

‘But actually no, I don’t agree that the policy choices of this Government are not the right policy choices, given what we have inherited, which is a very different situation from 2024 to 1997.’

The battle at the heart of Labor began after former Prime Minister Sir Tony published a 5,600-word essay on the direction of his party.

He demanded the Prime Minister abandon net-zero targets, cut benefits and rethink the triple lock on pensions, while savagely attacking Labour’s flagship workers’ rights laws and the minimum wage increase. He also accused the party of being interested in increasing state aid rather than stimulating the economy.

Elsewhere in his intervention, Sir Tony warned that Labor was in danger of losing the next election because it had no ‘coherent plan’ for the country.

He said his party had retreated into a leftist ‘comfort zone’ and warned against moving further left.

After defending his record, the Prime Minister also vowed to enter a leadership contest, saying again that he would not ‘walk away’ if challenged.

Mr Burnham is fighting the Makerfield by-election in a bid to return to Westminster and launch a leadership challenge.

The mayor, who served in Sir Tony’s government, said the problem with Blairism was that it ‘sometimes always sees the market as the answer’.

Another potential leadership rival, former health secretary Wes Streeting, took a similar view, arguing that the ‘striking weakness’ at the heart of the response was the lack of mention of inequality.

Sir Tony is expected to intervene further in the coming weeks after allies said it was ‘the beginning, not the end’ of efforts to shape the future of the party.