Jeremy Corbyn believes it is now Tony Blair's turn to make the journey

Jeremy Corbyn believes it is now Tony Blair's turn to make the journey

Corbyn says he hopes Blair recognises that Labour respects the referendum result

Back in the days when left-winger Jeremy Corbyn was a rebel backbencher and Tony Blair was Prime Minister, Corbyn told me a story about Blair's view of him.

The then prime minister and wife Cherie were attending a smart Islington dinner party, he told me, when one guest said: "Our local MP is Jeremy Corbyn."

At this point, according to the way Jeremy Corbyn tells the story, Blair sighed and said: "Ah, Jeremy… Jeremy hasn't made the journey."

This weekend, however, the Labour leader and his closest ally John McDonnell are claiming it is Tony Blair who is out of touch on Brexit now the UK has embarked on a journey towards leaving the EU.

:: Blair - 'Absolutely necessary' that Brexit does not happen


Blair: 'Absolutely necessary' Brexit does not happen

The Labour leader, rather tactfully, given his understandable annoyance, says he hopes Tony Blair recognises that Labour respects the result of the EU referendum a year ago.

John McDonnell, meanwhile, says more bluntly: "To be frank, Mr Blair hasn't really listened to the nature of the debate that is going on in the pubs, the clubs and school gates etc."

He may have a point there.

McDonnell, I know, enjoys a pint of Guinness from time to time. Blair, however, has never been much of a pub man, except in photo-calls with US presidents.

My favourite Blair pub story dates back to when he was seeking the Sedgefield nomination back in 1983 and his agent, John Burton, took him into a working men's club to meet some locals.

"And whatever you do," said the always down-to-earth Burton, "don't ask for a ****ing Perrier water."

I can imagine even the ever-loyal John Burton has reservations about Blair's call to arms to his pro-Remain disciples in Parliament now the EU (Withdrawal) Bill has been published.

Who's more qualified to talk about Brexit: Blair or Farage?

:: Jeremy Corbyn tells Tony Blair 'politics has changed'

After all, it's not only Blair's old left-wing foes who are criticising his latest pro-Remain intervention, in which he claims to have spoken to EU leaders who are prepared to make compromises on Brexit.

"If I was in the EU wanting to change public opinion in this country about our exit from the EU, I would not be using Tony Blair," says Frank Field, who rarely agrees with Corbyn and McDonnell.

McDonnell says the result of the EU referendum has to be respected. Yet Blair says in his Sophy Ridge on Sunday interview: "It's possible now that Brexit doesn't happen. I think it's absolutely necessary that it doesn't happen."

This has happened before.

In February, after the former prime minister called on pro-Europeans to form a new cross-party movement to oppose Brexit, Corbyn said: "The referendum happened, let's respect the result. Democracy happened, respect the result."

But Blair's latest intervention will embolden those Remainers in Parliament - MPs and peers - who are determined to do everything they can to frustrate, delay or amend Brexit as the EU (Withdrawal) Bill - which Theresa May originally planned to call the Great Repeal Bill - goes through the Commons and the Lords.

We can now look forward to - or not! - a re-run of the Maastricht Treaty battles of the 1990s, when John Major's government with a small majority was worn down by a campaign waged by Tory Eurosceptics and a Labour opposition whose tactical brains was the late John Smith.

Blair on Brexit 'damage' and Corbyn

This time it will be another barrister, former director of public prosecutions Sir Keir Starmer.

:: Corbyn gunning for a 'jobs first' Brexit as he meets EU's Barnier

Sir Vince Cable, soon to be crowned Lib Dem leader, suggested on Sky News the Remainers stand a better chance of winning votes in the Lords than the Commons because his party has a bigger presence there.

But the threat of unelected peers frustrating the result of the referendum vote will incense Brexiteers even more than voting it down in the Commons.

Nigel Farage described the Blair call to arms to Remainers as "a pretty loathsome performance" on Sky News.

Jeremy Corbyn once told me another story about Blair and him when he was a backbencher.

After a left-wing motion denouncing the latest Blairite sell-out appeared on the Commons order paper, I asked Corbyn if he had signed it.

"Oh yes!" he replied proudly. "I'm one of the usual suspects!"

That, of course, was the derisory term the Blair inner circle used to describe their left-wing critics in the Labour Party.

These days the leadership of Labour and the Tories often use the same term to describe the Remainers and Brexit deniers who are now being urged by Tony Blair to rise and vote against Brexit in Parliament.

And therefore, the leadership of both parties would argue, it's Tony Blair and the Remainers who need to make the journey now.