What is really going on in politics? Get our daily email briefing straight to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Tony Blair tried to become a stand-up comedian and he was 'really dire' at it.

The ex-PM has revealed he spent his youth trying to get laughs from other Oxford students - including as a Star Trek character called Captain Kink.

Speaking last night, Mr Blair said he was relieved smartphones didn't exist in the 1970s because video footage would have been made into a Tory party broadcast.

It's already well-known that the former Labour leader's antics at St John's College, Oxford, included founding a failed rock band called Ugly Rumours .

And he's not a total stranger to TV comedy - playing himself on The Simpsons and in a Red Nose Day sketch with Catherine Tate.

Read more:

(Image: Rex Features)

But until now Mr Blair's foray into the world of youthful comedy was largely unknown.

He told political interviewer and former Labour aide Matt Forde: "I did these revues in which I did stand-up and they fitted into two categories really.

"There was the first lot of them that were really dire, and then I did actually learn and got a bit better at it.

"I used to do skits on TV shows. I did one on Star Trek that was memorably awful - I’ve got a terrible feeling I was a character called Captain Kink.

(Image: Matt Forde)

"If there had been social media, can you image, they could have put that on there as the Tory Party Political Party Broadcast, that would have been it."

During a lengthy interview Mr Blair also said he would back David Cameron on bombing Syria.

The ex-PM claimed 'many Labour MPs' agree with him, adding: "I think it’s important that we take strong action against ISIS and take that action against them where they are headquartered, which is in Syria.

"So obviously I would support that but this is going to be a long hard struggle, not just against ISIS in Syria, but you have got ISIS, you have got Jabhat al-Nusra, you’ve got Al Qaeda, yuou’ve got al-Shbaab, you’ve got Boko Haram.

"You’ve got these groups that have proliferated all over the world and this is the biggest security challenge of the 21st century and it’s going to take a long time to defeat it."

He also defended his choice to invade Iraq ahead of the Chilcot report .

(Image: Matt Forde)

Asked if he'd change what he said in the past, the ex-PM said: "No I don’t feel pressure to do that but I understand there is powerful disagreements about what I did.

"In the end you take a decision and you take it on the basis that you think it’s right.

He compared the mounting crisis over bombing Syria with the disastrous action Labour and Tory MPs approved in 2003.

He said brutal dictator President Assad may have to be 'forced out over a period of time' with a 'transitional period'.

On his own premiership, Mr Blair said 'despite all the differences and difficulties I still have a huge respect' for Gordon Brown.

Comedian Al Murray posed a wisecrack from the audience - on how a Prime Minister should deal with an ambitious chancellor.

Mr Blair joked David Cameron should 'hang on in there as long as you can'.

The Political Party with Matt Forde is available to download from 10am tomorrow, from iTunes or mattforde.com .