Tony Blair offers advice and warnings to the next British Prime Minister

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair warned the current candidate to lead the United Kingdom, Andy Burnham, against riding the populist wave to reach the prime ministership.

In a frank exchange with comedian Matt Ford at the Tony Blair Institute’s summer reception at the National Theater in London, the former prime minister also said Burnham needed to maintain a strong relationship with the US “whoever is president”, because of the risk of Russia invading Europe.

Blair issued another warning to Burnham, against continuing the “zero emissions” policies followed by the Energy Minister, Ed Miliband, but it can be said that the most important advice he gave was: “You will not be loved.”

The reception, sponsored by Uber, was attended by prominent figures from the worlds of politics, business and media, including former Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

This event came at a time when candidate Andy Burnham pledged to members of Parliament to bring about a change in the culture within the Labor Party, during a single-candidate election campaign, where he was effectively confirmed as the next Prime Minister with 349 nominations.

Blair, who served as UK Prime Minister from 1997 to 2007, has been carefully choosing his advice for the new leader. When asked what he would have told himself in 1997 when he first became Prime Minister, just as Burnham is preparing to do now, he said: “I think you might think you would have love, but you wouldn’t.”

Andy Burnham’s campaign was based on his personal popularity, as he enjoyed strong support throughout the northern regions, earning him the nickname “King of the North”, while Blair also enjoyed enormous personal popularity when Labor won the 1997 general election.

Blair said: “I wish Andy Burnham the best. I hope he succeeds. It is important for the country that he succeeds, and in fact, as a party colleague, he was wonderful as well.” He added: “Andy has a very strong political sense. He is someone who really loves people, and that is one of the characteristics that distinguishes politicians. I think that over time, when you get to know them, you find that all politicians have to pretend to care about people, but, you know, sometimes you come across politicians who love humanity in general.”

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