Michael Gove tells Sky News why Blair deserves his knighthood…

“… I think any fair-minded person would say that he was an outstanding statesman and performer and, as a prime minister who put public service first, this recognition from Her Majesty is entirely appropriate.”

Following the announcement of Tony Blair’s knighthood on New Year’s Eve – which has already seen over 500,000 sign a petition to strip him of the gong – Shadow Education Secretary Wes Streeting heaped praise on the award:

Congratulations to Sir Tony Blair, but I know he’ll be even more proud that @ValerieAmos, a personal hero of mine and so many others, has become - yet again - a trailblazer. So many firsts in her career, beating a path for others to follow. A totally inspirational woman. https://t.co/mVGc7JH2rR

— Wes Streeting MP (@wesstreeting) December 31, 2021

Immediately, left-wing critics of Wes pointed out his views had seemingly done a 180-degree U-turn since 2010, when he tweeted that Blair should be “tried at the Hague for the various war crimes to his sordid name”.

This would be a startling change of attitude towards the former PM, had he not outed none other than Owen Jones as the author of said tweet back at Labour Party conference 2021.

Thankfully for Tony, his knightly successor Sir Keir has defended his New Year award, telling GMB this morning he deserves the honour. This ain’t no Blair ditch project…

Labour’s Conference still has a high crank quotient, with votes on the conference floor for: mass nationalisation; £15 an hour national minimum wage; sanctions on Israel; and a belief that the new defence agreement with the US and Australia is a threat to world peace. All of which will be cheerfully ignored by the Shadow Cabinet.

The undemocratic gerrymandering of the electoral college, and protection of MPs from deselection, means that the still overwhelmingly left-wing party membership will find it difficult to foist a left-wing leader on the markedly less left-wing parliamentary party, which should allow Starmer to move policy-wise closer towards where voters priorities lie. Some of the old New Labour discipline is returning as well – look at how deftly Shadow Cabinet ministers now swerve questions about all the bonkers trans questions that obsess activists and bemuse voters. Starmer reportedly last night even went to privately meet The Sun. Making peace with Murdoch is something the membership would hate. As basic media handling realpolitik, it is a necessity.

Will it work? Well it can’t get any worse in polling terms, so in the words of the Blairite anthem heard last night at the Mirror’s party: “things can only get better”…

It’s speech day for Sir Keir in Brighton and the pressure is on to get through the final day of conference without one final disaster. David Lammy’s been out this morning acting as Starmer’s warm-up man, telling Today listeners the speech will demonstrate change, a Labour Party they can trust and tell them more about their new leader. Starmer’s team promise an even more personal moment than what he gave to Piers Morgan earlier this year. Handkerchiefs at the ready…

One phrase Lammy used did stick in the head though, as he slated Corbyn’s performance and said attempting to keep the flame of Corbynism alive would be madness:

“Look, we lost. And you’ve got to recalibrate when you lose. The definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. So it’s a new day, a new dawn, Keir has his moment and I wish him the best of luck”

A new dawn breaking? Given yesterday the party was nicking “tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime”, Guido suggests Blair starts invoicing Southside…

Tony Blair warns that Islamism is still a threat…

“Islamism, both the ideology and the violence, is a first-order security threat; and, unchecked, it will come to us, even if centred far from us, as 9/11 demonstrated… This ideology – whether Shia, promulgated by the Islamic Republic of Iran, or Sunni, promoted by groups on a spectrum from the Muslim Brotherhood through to al-Qaeda, ISIS, Boko Haram and many others – has been the principal cause of destabilisation across the Middle East and beyond, and today in Africa.

Like Revolutionary Communism, it operates in many different arenas and dimensions; and like it, its defeat will come ultimately through confronting both the violence and the ideology with a combination of hard and soft power.”