Tony Blair's call to mobilise against Brexit sparks mixed response

[Denzil_DC]

Tony Blair has received a predictably dismissive government response to his call for remain voters to organise their opposition to Brexit, with No 10 saying there would be no second referendum.

...

In his first major intervention on Brexit since the referendum campaign, Blair called for a new movement born from the 48% of the electorate who wanted to remain in the EU, saying: “We have to build the capability to mobilise and to organise.”

Writing in the New European, Blair said: “The issue is not whether we ignore the will of the people, but whether, as information becomes available, and facts take the place of claims, the ‘will’ of the people shifts. Maybe it won’t, in which case people like me will have to accept it.

“But surely we are entitled to try to persuade, to make the argument, and not to be whipped into line to support a decision we genuinely believe is a catastrophe for the country we love.”

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/oct/28/tony-blair-remain-voters-to-mobilise-against-brexit

(Largely) the right message, wrong messenger, I fear.

Still, it keeps the idea alive that we Brexitsceptics needn't heed the predictable calls from some of the wannabe neofascist media: "Just fuck off and go and live in Europe if you love it so much."

[OnDoutside]

1. Tony has zero credibility left

[T_i_B]

2. Which organisation should do the organising?

The "Stronger In" campaign (which was dominated by Blairites who'd fallen out of favour in the Labour party) has morphed into Open Britain, which is quite frankly a bit rubbish and more concerned with leaving the EU on "soft" terms than actually righting all the things that are going wrong in this country thanks to the referendum. http://www.open-britain.co.uk/

More United is better, but it does have the whiff of a Lib Dem front organisation, and the Lib Dems have as much baggage as Tony Blair does. http://www.moreunited.uk/

On that note, wouldn't the Lib Dems be the better choice for those of us wishing to mobilise against the national cancer? The Tories are lurching closer and closer to outright facism and Labour is utterly useless at Westminster level. But the Lib Dems screwed over too many of their own voters during the coalition years and are loathed by people from other parties for how they often operate at a local level. Maybe the ideal thing would be for pro-EU MP's to start up a whole new party without the baggage of the old parties? But that would be much easier said than done. Politics is a tribal business and geting people from diferent parties to work together (even when they share the same views and values) is not easy at all.