Ex-PM also says there is time to find way out of Brexit crisis, at meeting with EU ambassadors

Tony Blair has told European ambassadors that the UK does not have a leader either in the Conservative party or the Labour party, but insisted parliament could still meet the 12 April deadline for a new proposal on Brexit.

Speaking to the ambassadors for the third time in recent months over breakfast on Friday, Blair said he believed but was not certain that Theresa May would be defeated next week if she put her proposal to a third meaningful vote.

He said the key development would be whether parliament could come to an agreement on what form of Brexit it favoured in next week’s planned indicative votes.

Blair, a supporter of a second referendum, said it was even possible that if a hard Brexit of the form proposed by Theresa May was supported by MPs, some Conservative MPs would want that deal put to the British people in a referendum so that ownership of the decision was shared between parliament and the public.

The former prime minister was questioned by the ambassadors on whether such a referendum could heal the UK’s divisions or simply prolong the country’s agony. Some ambassadors, deeply opposed to Brexit in principle, have come to the view that the UK should go ahead and leave simply to keep the social fabric of the country intact.

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Blair argued that the country was already divided and that a referendum conducted properly could be part of a healing process. He said it was better that the country made the right decision.

Some of Blair’s strongest criticism was directed at the quality of leadership in the country, saying the UK in effect had no leadership in either the Conservative or Labour parties.

Some European ambassadors based in the UK believe that if MPs can find support for an option other than May’s deal in the indicative votes next week, that in itself would be sufficient for the EU to grant a lengthy extension to the UK.

European diplomats accept that the EU’s requirement that the UK stage European parliamentary elections if it wants an extension will be difficult for the UK to swallow. But they say the clear legal advice to the European commission was that all decisions of the European parliament risked being open to legal challenge if the UK remained an EU member without holding elections.

Q&A Might the UK still take part in European parliamentary elections? Show Hide At the moment there seems to be three likely Brexit outcomes: a no deal departure on 12 April, a departure on 22 May with Theresa May's deal, or a lengthy extension to the process. The EU is only likely to grant a long extension if there is a significant change in the UK's position. For example, calling a second referendum, holding a general election, or asking the EU to renegotiate the political declaration that accompanies the withdrawal agreement. If the EU were to grant an extension beyond 22 May, the UK would be required to hold and participate in the European Parliamentary elections, which would take place on Thursday 23 May.

The diplomatic sources revealed that senior politicians privately had been urging May for months to try to build consensus but had come to the conclusion that either the confrontational nature of UK politics at Westminster or May’s uncollegiate personality made compromise impossible.

The sources also revealed there was some tension between the European commission and the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, about his approach to Brexit.

Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, warned Corbyn that there was a serious risk of a no-deal Brexit by accident. Corbyn was said to have replied gruffly: “That is not our policy.” It is understood he did not engage with the argument that his rejection of May’s deal was making no deal more likely.