Tony Blair says UK should 'make the best of' Brexit as he warns against push to rejoin EU

Tony Blair has called on the UK to “make the best” of Brexit as he conceded the time is not right to push to rejoin the European Union.



The former Prime Minister called on fellow Remainers to avoid "unrequited longing" for the EU - as he took a fresh swipe at Jeremy Corbyn's stance on Brexit.

Mr Blair said: “Brexit is happening, and our attitude now should be to strive to make the best of it; to approach it with determined optimism, not looking over our shoulders in unrequited longing for what was.

“If we do in the future want to re-join, it should be from a position of strength not supplication; but it’s not something which should occupy us today.”

The ex-Labour leader, who openly supported remaining in the EU, was also heavily critical of the current leadership’s response to Brexit.

He wrote: “I opposed Brexit with every fibre of my political being. I still deeply regret it, politically and emotionally.

“Even now, I grind my teeth at the mind-boggling ineptitude of the Labour Party in helping facilitate it, first by failing to provide coherent opposition to it, and then by collapsing into a Brexit General Election, only to complain about it dominating the debate.”

This is not the first time Mr Blair has been critical of Jeremy Corbyn’s command in the wake of the general election - he previously accused him of turning Labour into a "glorified protest group with cult trimmings".

In an article posted on the website for his non-profit - the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change - Mr Blair urged Britain to find its “niche” in the world after leaving the EU.

And he cautioned against relying too heavily on relations with the US post-Brexit, adding: “We should of course keep our American relationship close for multiple reasons of economy, security and shared values.

“But we shouldn't see ourselves as forced by departure from Europe to try to compensate by reliance on the USA.

“On the contrary, we need to show what we can bring to their table, in our own right, in economic partnership, trade, diplomacy, the fight against extremism and helping fashion Western alliances with the new emerging Asian and African powers.”