DAVOS: Former prime minister Tony Blair said on Thursday that Britain should hold a second referendum to bring “closure” to the chaotic Brexit process, and he believed the chances of such a vote taking place were now greater than 50 percent.
With just over nine weeks till Britain is due to leave the EU, there is still no deal on the divorce terms and future relations after parliament last week crushingly defeated the plan that Prime Minister Theresa May had negotiated.
“I think if you have another referendum it really will bring closure. People like myself accept if the country votes to leave again, that’s it,” Blair, who opposes leaving the European Union, told Reuters TV at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
“But I think if you leave without going back to the people, with this mess and in these circumstances, there will be even greater division.”
Since rejecting May’s deal, British lawmakers have failed to unite behind any other option and remain deeply divided over how to proceed. Some favor a second referendum as a way of breaking the deadlock in parliament.
Blair, who is from the main opposition Labour Party and served as prime minister from 1997 to 2007, said Britain could not leave the EU unless it knew where it was heading. If that meant applying to push back the March 29 Brexit date, then Britain should apply for that, he added.
“The idea that we can tumble out of the European Union without a deal, I mean this would be completely irresponsible and I’m sure that parliament won’t allow it,” he said.
Britons voted in a 2016 referendum by 52 percent to 48 percent to leave the EU.
Blair urges second Brexit vote to bring “closure“
Blair urges second Brexit vote to bring “closure“
- “I think if you have another referendum it really will bring closure," Blair said
- Since rejecting May’s deal, British lawmakers have failed to unite behind any other option and remain deeply divided over how to proceed
Pull him off TV: Steve Bannon shuts down Sen. Lindsey Graham
- Trump’s former chief strategist called for the senator to be registered as a foreign agent
DUBAI: Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon called on Tuesday for US Senator Lindsey Graham to be registered as a foreign agent of the Israeli government, escalating a growing conservative backlash against the senator’s vocal support for Israel.
Speaking on his podcast “War Room,” Bannon said Graham should be “pulled off of television,” adding: "This is dangerous… because you have guys like Lindsey Graham and dozens more that are doing the wrong thing.”
In a Fox News interview on Monday, Graham said: “To all the antisemites, to all the isolationists… I’m not with you, I’m with Israel, I will be with Israel to our dying day.”
Graham also urged Gulf Arab states to join military action against Iran. “What I want you to do in the Middle East, to our friends in Saudi Arabia and other places, [is] step forward and say, ‘this is my fight too, I join America, I’m publicly involved in bringing this regime down,’” he said.
In a post on X, Graham questioned the value of a US defense agreement with Saudi Arabia following the evacuation of the American embassy in Riyadh, writing: “Why should America do a defense agreement with a country like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that is unwilling to join a fight of mutual interest?”
Faisal Abbas, editor-in-chief of Arab News, responded to Graham’s comments in a Sky News interview, saying: “He flip flops so much, it’s actually entertaining.”
“On one hand, he says he will never set foot in Saudi Arabia. The next day, he’s here signing multimillion-dollar deals.”
“I don’t think anyone here takes him seriously,” Abbas added.
He warned Graham to be careful what he wished for: “Do you really want Saudi Arabia involved in this war putting our oil facilities at risk or do you want us stabilizing the energy markets?”
Graham pressed further, warning that inaction would carry a price. “Hopefully Gulf Cooperation Council countries will get more involved as this fight is in their backyard. If you are not willing to use your military now, when are you willing to use it?”
“Hopefully this changes soon. If not, consequences will follow.”
Graham's remarks drew sharp criticism from Bannon and others including podcast host Megyn Kelly.
She questioned on X whether Graham was overstepping his authority as a senator, writing: “When did Lindsay Graham become our president?”
Kelly also said Graham had threatened Lebanon, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, the wider Arab region, and Spain within a 24-hour period.
The problem with Graham “isn’t (just) that he’s a homicidal maniac, it’s that Trump likes and is listening to him,” she said in another post.
