Maajid Nawaz issues warning to Starmer over 'embracing Blair's legacy'

8 August 2021, 15:23 | Updated: 8 August 2021, 15:25

Maajid Nawaz issues warning to Starmer planning to adopt Blair legacy

By Seán Hickey

If Sir Keir Starmer pushes Labour to re-adopt Blairism, the party will 'haemorrhage' voters in the next election, according to Maajid Nawaz.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has made clear that the party should embrace the legacy of former Prime Minister Tony Blair to win the next general election. Maajid Nawaz argued however, that this is the complete wrong approach.

Maajid addressed Sir Keir directly, stating that Blairism should be left in the past if Labour "want to avoid a Batley and Spen."

"You want to avoid haemorrhaging votes from Muslim communities – ethnic minority communities – because frankly, we don't have the privilege to take them for granted."

He went on to explain why Labour would nosedive if Mr Starmer stuck by the policy: "You're championing the same man who used the war on terror...to curtail our civil liberties" he pointed out.

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Maajid continued by warning that "the same man is trying to use the Covid emergency to introduce vaccine passports," and with low take-up in ethnic minority communities, would result in vaccine apartheid.

"I stood by concerned Labour party members and the Jewish community against Jeremy Corbyn, I ask you now not to betray us and sell us down this road where, in the name of emergencies, civil liberties can be stripped away."

"It's ethnic minorities that suffer again" Maajid warned.

He predicted that if Blairism was to reappear in Labour, "we're going to once again use power to force your subservience.

"If you want us to adopt that, you've lost me completely."