Tony Blair has ruled out quitting Labour to join the rebel centrist breakaway but praised those who did quit for being 'courageous'.
The former Prime Minister said he had not spoken to any of the eight Labour MPs who quit the party before they made their move almost a fortnight ago.
But he admitted he had spoken to them since they formed the Independent Group along with three disaffected Tories who quit Theresa May's ranks.
And he warned that people might be increasingly attracted to their ideas if the two main parties remained 'locked' in their current ideologies.
The former prime minister also praised the 'really great leadership' of the current deputy leader in an increasingly bitter battle between Mr Watson and general secretary Jennie Formby.
She had accused Mr Watson of 'completely unacceptable' behaviour by asking Labour MPs to forward complaints made to the party about anti-Semitism to him so they could be monitored.
Mr Watson returned fire in the extraordinary public spat by insisting there had been a 'complete loss of trust' in the party regarding the complaints situation.
Mr Blair told the BBC's Andrew Marr show: 'I'm staying in the Labour Party. I have been in the Labour party for over 40 years, I led it for 13 years, I was the longest serving Labour prime minister.
'I'm deeply attached to the Labour Party but do I sympathise with what they have done? Yes I do and I think they are courageous in having done it.'
Former PM Tony Blair pictured outside the BBC's headquarters in London today. He told the Marr show he would not be leaving Labour but praised the 'courage' of those who had
Mr Blair's comments came less than two weeks after nine Labour MPs quit the party in disgust at Jeremy Corbyn's leadership. Eight of them went on to form the Independent Group
Mr Blair praised Mr Watson over his move to set up a social democratic group within the party.
Mr Blair added: 'As a result of what he's doing, he's encouraging people who do share a perspective of the Labour Party as a governing, modern, progressive party, he's actually encouraging them in a sense to stay because he's providing a space within which people can debate and argue.'
Up to 100 Labour MPs are poised to form a new rebel movement under deputy leader Tom Watson, his allies have claimed.
Mr Watson is said to be planning a guerrilla operation to establish a centre-Left ‘party within a party’ with its own whipping operation that could cripple Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, leaving just 145 MPs under his control.
He has long been planning the move, but it has been accelerated by the civil war which has broken out over anti-Semitism, and is now expected to come in the next fortnight.
Support for TIG candidates was highest among Lib dem supporters, but with Labour having a far higher number of MPs the support among its backers will alarm senior party officials
Mr Watson, a veteran party power-broker and union fixer, claims he has an independent mandate because he was elected deputy leader by the membership.
A Friday poll placed renewed pressure on Mr Corbyn by revealing a quarter of voters would consider backing TIG in a general election.
They included almost a third (32.4 per cent) of Labour supporters said they were very likely or likely to back a TIG candidate if they stood in their local constituency, the Politico poll found.
That compared to 28.8 per cent of backers of Mr Corbyn’s party who said they would not back the emergent group, made of of disaffected former Labour and Conservative MPs.
Mr Blair added: 'I think it's absolutely inevitable that if you put the choice before the country - hard Brexit Tory party, hard-left Labour Party - it doesn't matter what I say, what I want to happen, what anyone else says, you leave that amount of fertile territory open, someone is going to cultivate it.'
Lord Falconer said that he was prepared to dive into the party's old cases to boot out anti-Semites, saying: 'If there are stone cold cases where nothing has been done, they would need to be looked at again.'
Mr Blair said he is 'deeply concerned' about Labour's direction and policy, adding: 'If you want to get back to winning ways, this is not the position to be in.'
Meanwhile a Labour peer drafted in to put out the flames of its hugely damaging anti-Semitism crisis has warned 'clear-cut' cases where no action was taken will be reopened.
Lord Falconer, a former lord chancellor and flatmate of Tony Blair, said that he was prepared to dive into the party's old cases to boot out anti-Semites who deserved it.
He also appeared to side with Tom Watson, telling the Sunday Times: 'If there are stone cold cases where nothing has been done, they would need to be looked at again.
'There are hundreds of complaints that need to be dealt with.'
Link hienalouca.com
https://hienalouca.com/2019/03/03/tony-blair-praises-courageous-mps-who-quit-labour-but-say-he-will-not-follow-them-out-the-door/
Main photo article Tony Blair has ruled out quitting Labour to join the rebel centrist breakaway but praised those who did quit for being ‘courageous’.
The former Prime Minister said he had not spoken to any of the eight Labour MPs who quit the party before they made their move almost a fortnight a...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves Online news HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/03/03/10/10515898-0-image-m-12_1551610293386.jpg
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