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position... referendum
The problem now is that everything is hindsight - on a subject that was totally unknown and misunderstood. Eg who knew about A50? Irish Boarder? Etc.? Etc?
Blair seems to be basically saying Labour should have reached their final Brexit position earlier, and it would have been popular?
My reading was that; 1. The uncertainty made them look weak, and 2. reaching their final position earlier whilst making it 100% about the Tories.
Point 1. is unarguable. Point 2.... I still think the length of the msg would always have been a challenge.
As ever with Blair opitics is all. And if we're having a bitching sesh then I draw a firm line to our current discourse of lies and fake news that started with him and Campbell.
hugo7-
My reading was that the referendum would have been on the existing deal, not the whole 'we'll get a new one in 3 months then referend that'. That's a clearer message (at whatever point they might have stated it - May's or Johnson's deal) - 'This is what Brexit looks like - now you can decide if it's what you want.'
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Irish Boarder
While not representative of the UK as a whole, it was a pretty big point raised by anyone I talked to from NI, even prior to the vote. I still don't understand how it wasn't front and centre in the run-up to the referendum.
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who knew about A50? Irish Boarder? Etc.? Etc?
We knew about all of these in the 2017 election. Or are you making the 'Leave voters were more ignorant – let's start again' argument?
Labour is at an inherent disadvantage going into any election. To contest the referendum result was nuts. I mean, their's may be a reasoned stance that I personally favour ... but I never thought the public were stupid enough not overlook Labour's obfuscation for political ends, or clever enough to see through the weaponisation of Brexit by the right wing press.
villa-ru
mmccarthy
miro_o
Oh wow. Former Prime Minister and Lobbyist Tony Blair.
The idea is to win so holding up 2017 as a goal is limited but ok. The 2017 Labour position was to honour the referendum result. Wesminster mess in the interim hardened Leave voters against Labour. As @villa-ru pointed out it gave time for Remainers to find ways to stall and overturn the result, hardening Remainers too, fuelled on false hope. It's likely many of them will have voted Lib Dem this time. Blair is cherry picking.
Blair seems to be basically saying Labour should have reached their final Brexit position earlier, and it would have been popular? Really not sure I buy that.
He can STFU on foreign policy too.