Will Tony Blair's intervention change the Labour debate?

A significant story is unfolding on the international scene. Will Tony Blair's intervention change the Labour debate? 13 minutes ago Share Save Add as preferred on GoogleNick EardleyPolitical correspondentGetty ImagesLabour is currently in the eye of a leadership storm. There hasn't been a challenge – yet.

But many expect one, so there is a debate building on what the future should look like, who should lead the party and whether there should be big changes in how they seek to govern. Enter Sir Tony Blair, Labour's most electorally successful leader. He argues Labour needs to rooted in the "radical centre" instead of its current lack of direction in its "comfort zone".

The Details

Sir Tony's essay is detailed. His interview with the this morning was a call for bigger ideas not just from his party, but from the wider political community which could occupy that "radical centre". But while Sir Tony continues to have some admirers in the Labour Party – he has plenty of critics too.

And the early reaction shows the difficulty Sir Tony will find in trying to influence the party he used to lead. Number 10 are not engaging with the details (the prime minister didn't take questions when he met Poland's Donald Tusk on Wednesday). But the Treasury minister Torsten Bell has given a sense of the thinking in government on X.

He takes issue with much of Sir Tony's analysis, like a failure to acknowledge why taxes have gone up (Bell argues higher debt interest and "unwinding the extremes" of austerity are key). He concludes: "Governing requires a much grittier engagement with the world as it is, not as you might prefer it to be". Andy Burnham - who could soon challenge Sir Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership - has also criticised Sir Tony for not mentioning the importance of inequality.

What Experts Say

Speaking to the Observer, Burnham said: "People don't think the centre has delivered for them in terms of their lives, therefore they've gone further to the extremes. "We've not had a response from Wes Streeting - who has said he would stand in any potential leadership contest - at the time of writing. Labour has 'no coherent plan' for country, says BlairChris Mason: Inside the shadow contest to be our next prime ministerIs it harder than ever to be prime minister?

You can perhaps understand why the arguments Sir Tony makes are awkward for senior Labour figures. Just look at some of the big questions he urges Labour politicians to address. Is the triple lock on pensions sustainable?

Any politician who has tried to engage with that question in recent years will tell you it's almost impossible politically. Should the UK be spending and taxing less? The current Labour Party has done the opposite – raising taxes to fund spending.

The story has become one of the most prominent items on the global agenda.