TONY BLAIR NEVER ACTUALLY LEFT

Tony Blair quit politics twenty years ago. So why does it look like he's still running the country?

Two Brits abroad dig into the Blair Institute, the billionaire money, and the net zero row with Starmer.

Jack and Adam break down Tony Blair's return to the headlines: his public swipe at Starmer and Burnham over net zero and closer ties to Trump, the Tony Blair Institute's $161 million in revenue and the reported Larry Ellison backing, and the awkward fact that former Blair aides now sit at the top of Starmer's government. 

Is it a genuine policy split, or a convenient distraction? 

Plus why Britain sits on North Sea oil and imports energy anyway, and whether cheap abundant power is the thing nobody in charge actually wants.

00:00 Tony Blair is back 

00:01 The Institute and who funds it 

00:02 Is the whole row a distraction? 

00:05 The net zero argument 

00:06 Britain's oil, Norway's wealth fund 

00:09 Cheap energy and who benefits

#TonyBlair #NetZero #TemporallyScripted

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Transcript

0:00

Everyone's favorite politician, Tony Blair, is back on the scene this week, Adam. Have you seen the news about net zero and Tony having a pop at Starmer? I have, yeah. And he's definitely my favorite politician of all time. How about you? Oh, yeah, I love him. I think he's amazing. He's such a good guy, and his wife, lovely as well. Yeah. Fantastic. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I, um, I… It's, it's an interesting one because I feel like he, at this stage, is Tony Blair looking to make s- a massive political comeback under Reform or something? You know. What, what's his thought process? Yeah. Well, I think the thing is he, he kind of retired from, or claims to have retired from British politics, but it seems like he never actually did. Um- Hmm. So after, after he left British politics, he then forms the To- what is it? The Tony Blair Institute Um, which is now really huge. So let's have a look. So yeah, in 2024, it had revenues of$161 million, uh, heavily backed by wealthy tech billionaires, uh, and including 338 million pledge from Larry Ellison, which is just crazy. So he's basically- Who's Larry Ellison? Uh, founder of Oracle, I believe. Hmm. Um, and that was like in total, that was what he pledged to the, the Tony Blair Institute. And it's not-- So it's loads of different, uh, governments and, uh, corporations, companies that are all backing this thing that he does. Um, so I did like a, a little bit of a, a search on it. Um, and it's just, it's really bizarre. So it's basically they seem to be pulling the strings in the UK and overseas as well. So even Starmer has staffed like the very highest levels of UK government with Blair's former team, uh, including like national security advisor. Uh, some of Blair's aides have then gone to work for Starmer. And so- Hmm … there's, there's a lot of accusations that he's kind of pulling the strings in the British government today. And so he might not have the title of Prime Minister, but his influence is still like really high. Yeah, but this week he's made Starmer and Burnham very, very, very cross, hasn't he? You know? They're very angry, I can see. It's a good distraction. It's a good distraction from something else that'll be going on, undoubtedly. I wonder if Tony was like, "Listen, lads, everybody fucking despises me, right? I'm, I'm so hated by the nation in general because of various things that I did. Why don't we just make it so you guys… I'll say something stupid, right? And I'll go national about it, and then you guys can like- Back me away, both of you. And then it'll create this, like, unity, so it looks like, you know, Burnham and Starmer, good old mates, bezzie friends, kicking back against Tony Blair and all of his nonsense stuff from his history of destroying the country once. And maybe we'll get a little boost in the ratings. And then if, even if Burnham ends up replacing you, Keir, you know, we'll, we'll stay in power, and my institute will keep going. My… You know, the Tony Blair Institute, which sounds like a really low-grade indie rock band. Um- Just, just for a while there. And he does actually play guitar. So, so there we go. Um, but I, you know, I wonder if there's, there's some deeper plot here where it's like… And Sherry's obviously behind it. She's always behind it. You know, she's always there pulling the strings on the strings. Um, yeah. So crazy. It could well be. So I mean, 'cause what was it he said? He pushed back against him and basically said that they should scrap net zero- Yeah and also have closer ties to Trump. I reckon there's been a lot of pushing back in the Labour Party, especially since Mandelson got back involved. Oh, yeah. Yeah.'Cause, I mean, it's just been… If you think about it, it's just been one mess after another really with everything that's been happening with Starmer and Mandelson and all of that, and they're all connected 'cause Blair and Mandelson, that, that was part, that was New Labor really, wasn't it? Sort of Blair, Mandelson, Alastair Campbell. Um, and yeah, then these ties are still kind of there now, and we see how close Mandelson must have been to Starmer for him to just go, "Okay, yeah, push this through. Nope, we don't need to check him. He's a good guy. We're gonna get him this job in the US. He's never done a bad thing- Yeah in his life." Honest, is the day is long. This is it. Yeah. So what is the net zero thing then? What exactly is he for it? Is he against it? What did Tony say? Big old Tone. Old Tone. Good old Tone. Well, yeah. I mean, basically I think he says some stuff that actually makes sense, and I think we've commented on it on the podcast before. I, I don't know if maybe Tony Blair watches and that, that occasional one like that we get, that's, uh, Tony Blair going, "Good idea." Um, Don't forget to like, share, subscribe, folks, and Tony. Nice. Smooth. Um, but yeah, just I, I guess basically this whole idea of net zero is just costing an ungodly amount of money and ruining everybody's lives.'Cause I can't remember where Britain is in the rankings, but I believe it's in the top five of the highest, uh, energy prices in Europe- Mm. Yeah, yeah … and indeed the world. Yeah. And so, and this is all because of net zero and all these, all these different charges, all this push towards certain renewables that are incredibly expensive and actually quite inefficient. And so- Yeah … and the whole aim is, I think it's net zero by 2030, so zero carbon emissions. And of course, you know, America and China are, are on it. They're really pushing hard towards the net zero- Oh, China- … target. Um- … China's going net zero by, uh, next Tuesday. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that, that… It's, it's mad, isn't it, because we're a country, as a nation we sit on so much oil, so much gas. Like we, we… You know, Norway is one of the wealthiest countries on the planet, and they literally sit on the edge of the same oil field that we sit on, right? So there's no- Well, they- … there's no reason. It's like for us to not use it really. Exactly. And also they had like the sovereign wealth fund- I can't remember the whole ins and outs of it, but because Nor- Norway has, uh, those oil reserves, that was kind of given to the people, so the people kind of have a share of that, and so they have wealth based on the country's natural resources. Um- Yeah … and also, I mean, yeah, we've got huge oil reserves in the North Sea, but they're just, just left there, and we just import things from other countries instead I, I think a lot of it is part of the agenda in general. They're like, like whatever the agenda is at the time. So when there was this big push for net zero and climate and all of that, it was pre-AI being crazy, right? And there being all this AI. Now we have this massive need for energy in order to progress. Suddenly it's like, "Oh, well, we, you know, that actually climate change isn't so bad. You know, we don't need to worry about it so much. You know, we, we, we should probably reopen all the oil fields and all the gas fields, you know. It's gonna be better for everybody. Let- let's just, just do it." And it becomes like the policy that's required. And I don't necessarily disagree with it because I think that we need to progress and develop to get to a point where we can be environmentally sustainable. Like, I don't think y- y- the way to move forward is not to go, "Right, everybody stop developing. All you developing countries that haven't got proper developed systems yet, you stop," right? "And w- 'cause we need to be really careful now. We're already developed. You're not, but you just stay where you are- … because otherwise we're gonna s-" Like the way is to develop everyone as quickly as you possibly can, so everyone gets to the stage where it's like, okay, now we can, you know… We, 'cause we know, right? We live somewhere and anywhere else you go in Southeast Asia, there's trash everywhere, the beaches are covered in trash, like the sea, like, because there's no system. The reason there's no system is 'cause they're still trying to feed everybody, right? So of course, it's not a priority to be like, "Okay, what do we do with this stuff?" So what needs to happen is all the countries on the West or in developed countries need to help to develop all the smaller countries as quickly as damn possible, and then you can worry about how you deal with the issues, you know. You can't just go, "Oh, stop." Like when, when has it ever been a part of existence that the best way forward is to just stop moving forward? It's just, it's impossible, right? It's not how- Yeah … the universe works. Well, also as well with some developing countries or countries that are really undeveloped, what do people use as fuel? Well, to, to, to heat places or to cook on, they'll just burn wood or they'll burn animal dung or all kinds of different things, and that's- Or plastic or plastic. And all of those things are way worse than having like some, like natural gas or having, uh, something that's run by nuclear or solar, anything else. But just burning that kind of stuff is terrible. And so, yeah, the, the quicker you get some countries developed, if they're not doing that, the better. I mean, I've heard a lot of people argue that really nuclear technology is, is getting safe, like really safe if done properly. Why not just do that? In a lot of places. Yeah. And, and also it's like when there's the argument of just make, make energy affordable, make it super cheap, have an abundance of it, 'cause when you have an abundance of energy, you have an abundance of prosperity because everyone can grow, everyone can do things, businesses can thrive, all those things. And it all comes from energy, and the wellbeing of the people- Mm … goes up massively 'cause it's easy for them to cook, heat their homes, cool their homes, run their cars, all of that. Yeah. It's almost like they don't want people to have enough stuff that they don't have to struggle, so they've got time to think. Yeah. Strange, isn't it? Like may- maybe once we get to the point where everybody outsources all of their thinking to AI and everybody can have a mobile phone, then they will make it so that we're abundant in everything else because they'll have, you know, found another way to stop us thinking about stuff. Anyway, uh- Indeed … that brings us back, back round nicely to the end of that one. But yeah, if you enjoyed this little segment, uh, don't forget, give us a like, a subscribe, and me and Adam will see you in the next one. Tony, thanks for watching. Uh, send our love to Sherry.