Labour needs to rediscover that EU membership works

Tony Blair's famous justification for his policy decisions was that, above all, he believed in “what works”.

- William Keegan

Nadhim Zahawi, right, has defected to Farage's Reform.

(Getty Images)

This guiding principle served him well, with the unfortunate exception of his backing for president George W Bush's decision to invade Iraq.

The Blair-Brown governments of 1997 to 2010 were overshadowed by the difficulties of their personal relationship, but much of what they achieved domestically “worked”. Unfortunately, Blair’s decision to “hug them close” - “them” being US presidents - permanently damaged his reputation.

It was the difficulty of the Blair-Brown relationship that persuaded David Cameron and George Osborne to avoid any such public disputes. To my mind, this was why Osborne went along with Cameron's decision to hold the Brexit referendum, although the Treasury knew Brexit would be an economic disaster.

Another former chancellor to have changed course (after some unfortunate revelations about his personal tax affairs) is Nadhim Zahawi, who has now defected from the Conservatives to Reform.