Dr Blair’s prescription has made his party gag. At least it’s forced Labour to engage with ideas

The former leader’s provocative essay has provided a whetstone for Andy Burnham to sharpen his leftwing credentials

- Andrew Rawnsley

When Tony Blair was at No 10, the building had a “48-hour rule”.

This held that few news cycles last more than two days unless those involved feed the controversy with more fuel. So we can assume that Sir Tony, as he has since become, knows what he is doing when he stokes the blaze he ignited last week with another intervention in today’s Observer. To those who have denigrated his initial “playing with fire” essay as out of touch and out of date, he insists that “progressive orthodoxy” will not do and only “transformative” thinking will answer the problems facing Britain and his party.

One thing we have learned from this turbulent episode is about Sir Tony himself. He had a decade in Downing Street. He recently turned 73. He is not short of a bob or two. He could be taking it easy and putting his feet up on a sunlounger. Having lambasted the party he used to lead for its “almost infinite capacity for self-delusion”, many of its members fervently wish he'd go gently into retirement. Yet he is possessed by what one old friend calls “a near-manic” desire to be at the centre of debate. Call it a lust for attention if you want to be rude; call it a yearning to remain relevant if you want to be kinder. He will say it springs from an authentic desire to help the party he once led to an unprecedented and never repeated three back-to-back election victories.