LONDON: Former British prime minister Tony Blair on Friday urged Britons who support the European Union to “rise up” and persuade Brexit voters to change their mind about leaving the bloc in a high-profile speech.
“This is not the time for retreat, indifference or despair but the time to rise up in defense of what we believe,” he said at an event organized by Open Britain, a campaign group lobbying for Britain to retain close ties with the EU.
“I don’t know if we can succeed. But I do know we will suffer a rancorous verdict from future generations if we do not try,” he said.
“We have to build a movement that will stretch across party lines,” he said, announcing that he was creating an institute that would also develop arguments against Brexit and keep ties with the EU.
Britain voted to leave the European Union last year and Prime Minister Theresa May has said she will trigger Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty by the end of March, starting a two-year exit process.
Experts are divided on whether the government could change its mind about leaving the EU at some point in the future, even after invoking Article 50.
Blair came to power in 1997 at the head of the moderate leftist “New Labour” movement and won three general elections but his role in leading Britain into the Iraq War has badly damaged his legacy.
Brexit supporters quickly criticized Blair’s comments.
“The EU referendum was democratic, fair and free and the British people voted for Brexit,” said Richard Tice, co-chair of the Leave Means Leave group.
“Tony Blair is now trying to do everything he can to halt Brexit,” he said.
Former Conservative minister Iain Duncan Smith said the speech was “arrogant” and “undemocratic.”
Nigel Farage, former head of the UK Independence Party, tweeted: “Tony Blair is yesterday’s man.”
In the speech, which was shown live in full on BBC and Sky News, Blair launched a stinging attack on government policy saying the EU departure process was being led by proponents of hard Brexit.
“Our challenge is to expose relentlessly the actual cost, to show how this decision was based on imperfect knowledge,” he said, adding: “How hideously, in this debate, is the mantle of patriotism abused.”
Blair also warned that Scotland, which voted overwhelmingly to stay in the EU, now had a “much more credible” case for independence.
He said Brexit could have a “destabilising impact” on Northern Ireland, which also voted to stay.
Blair made the speech at the offices of Bloomberg news agency, the same place where former prime minister David Cameron announced in January 2013 that Britain would hold an EU membership referendum.
Blair urges pro-EU Britons to ‘rise up’ against Brexit
Blair urges pro-EU Britons to ‘rise up’ against Brexit
Philippines eyes closer cooperation on advanced defense tech with UAE
- Philippine-UAE defense agreement is Manila’s first with a Gulf country
- Philippines says new deal will also help modernize the Philippine military
MANILA: The Philippines is seeking stronger cooperation with the UAE on advanced defense technologies under their new defense pact — its first such deal with a Gulf country — the Department of National Defense said on Friday.
The Memorandum of Understanding on Defense Cooperation was signed during President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s visit to Abu Dhabi earlier this week, which also saw the Philippines and the UAE signing a comprehensive economic partnership agreement, marking Manila’s first free trade pact with a Middle Eastern nation.
The Philippines-UAE defense agreement “seeks to deepen cooperation on advanced defense technologies and strengthen the security relations” between the two countries, DND spokesperson Assistant Secretary Arsenio Andolong said in a statement.
The MoU “will serve as a platform for collaboration on unmanned aerial systems, electronic warfare, and naval systems, in line with the ongoing capability development and modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines,” he added.
It is also expected to further military relations through education and training, intelligence and security sharing, and cooperation in the fields of anti-terrorism, maritime security, and peacekeeping operations.
The UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has described security and defense as “very promising fields” in Philippine-UAE ties, pointing to Abu Dhabi being the location of Manila’s first defense attache office in the Middle East.
The UAE is the latest in a growing list of countries with defense and security deals with the Philippines, which also signed a new defense pact with Japan this week.
“I would argue that this is more significant than it looks on first read, precisely because it’s the Philippines’ first formal defense cooperation agreement with a Gulf state. It signals diversification,” Rikard Jalkebro, associate professor at the Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy in Abu Dhabi, told Arab News.
“Manila is widening its security partnerships beyond its traditional circles at a time when strategic pressure is rising in the South China Sea, and the global security environment is (volatile) across regions.”
Though the MoU is not an alliance and does not create mutual defense obligations, it provides a “framework for the practical stuff that matters,” including access, training pathways, procurement discussions and structured channels” for security cooperation, he added.
“For the UAE, the timing also makes sense, seeing that Abu Dhabi is no longer only a defense buyer; it’s increasingly a producer and exporter, particularly in areas like UAS (unmanned aerial systems) and enabling technologies. That opens a new lane for Manila to explore capability-building, technology transfer, and industry-to-industry links,” Jalkebro said.
The defense deal also matters geopolitically, as events in the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific region have ripple effects on global stability and commerce.
“So, a Philippines–UAE defense framework can be read as a pragmatic hedge, strengthening resilience and options without formally taking sides,” Jalkebro said.
