Tony Blair: "If Johnson wants to have a good relationship with Biden, he will have to work for it"

The former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair, this Sunday during the act of remembrance of the end of World War I, in London, DPA via Europa Press / Europa Press

Tony Blair (Edinburgh, 67) knows first-hand the consequences of aligning himself excessively with an unpopular US president.

The former prime minister did it with George W. Bush, just as Boris Johnson forged a special relationship with Donald Trump.

From the advantage of observing politics from the outside, he is able to point out how, in the same way that he was linked more with the Democrat Bill Clinton than with his Republican successor, Johnson has more points in common with the man he is going to occupy the White House than with the one who resists leaving it.

But he is going to have to work to correct mistakes and humbly assume that the priority for the new US Administration will be the European Union.

Blair spoke with a group of foreign newspaper correspondents on Wednesday, including EL PAÍS.

In many of his answers, he assumes that the Biden-Harris tandem will govern jointly, and that the vice president will be relevant.

Question

.

How will US international politics change with the arrival of Joe Biden?

Reply.

I have no doubt that the Biden and Kamala Harris team will put America back on the path of multilateralism.

He will want to revitalize the transatlantic alliance and develop a more stable and predictable international policy.

P.

The

Johnson's administration was uneasy about not getting its relations with the president-elect off to a good start.

He has made a lot of noise with the fact that his phone conversation was his first with a European leader.

A.

With that call, Biden has simply followed tradition.

This is what new presidents of the United States usually do.

It makes no more sense than to follow a precedent.

Of course, Biden will want to preserve the special relationship between Washington and London, but his primary interest will be to forge strong transatlantic relations.

Especially with Germany and France.

I've known him for years and he's a strong advocate of that policy.

And a great supporter of the EU, by the way, who would never have supported Brexit.

He and Johnson may have a good relationship, but the UK Prime Minister is going to have to work it out.

P

.

To leave behind the last years with Trump?

R

.

In reality, all his support for Brexit was more anecdotal than relevant.

And the British institutional system is still very effective.

You should take advantage of a new situation that benefits you.

Johnson is also a supporter of multilateralism, and has demonstrated this with his endorsement of the World Health Organization or the World Trade Organization.

There are two urgent issues, such as the fight against climate change or the global response to the pandemic, in which both governments can find points of union.

P

.

But first he will have to resolve the conflict created with the UK's Internal Market Act [which violates London's commitments in its EU withdrawal agreement and puts peace in Northern Ireland at risk], which greatly irritated Biden.

R

.

I never liked that law, and now that the House of Lords has stopped it at second reading, the Government should use this opportunity to review the matter.

They have to take it very seriously.

Biden is a passionate advocate for the peace process in Northern Ireland.

You are not going to want anything that would put you in danger.

I start from the presumption that the United Kingdom will end up closing a trade agreement with the EU and that this law will disappear.

But if this does not happen, it will be a very serious problem.

It will not be something that is indifferent to the president-elect of the United States.

P

.

Can a new administration in the US influence the chances of a Brexit deal finally being reached before the end of this year?

R

.

Rather, I think that the chances of it being reached, which I place at 75% right now, have to do with the consequences of a non-agreement, not so much with the United States.

It is simply a matter in which the Johnson Administration must be very careful.

I don't think British businesses are prepared for a wild Brexit, and we would be heading for a serious economic problem.

P

.

Is the triumph of Biden the defeat of populism?

R

.

I don't think it's gone.

It was an extraordinary election in extraordinary circumstances.

In a more normal situation, it is not clear what the result would have been.

Progressive politics still has to do a lot of self-analysis, because I don't think we've gotten rid of populism.

P

.

Why?

R

. Because the problem of progressive parties is summed up in that radicals are not sensible and sensible ones are not radicals. And the end result is politicians with the capacity to be elected, but who limit themselves to managing the

or politicians with a radical agenda who will never be elected. In my opinion, the solution is to build a strong economic policy agenda that knows how to take advantage of current changes such as the technological revolution. And at the same time seek the ground of concord in the cultural issues that divide society. It is in this last area where the left runs the risk of leaving the score.