Labour “can indeed win”: Blair denies doom-mongering

The Scottish Labour Party is not the only headache for Ed Miliband this morning. The Telegraph’s front page doesn’t make for the best reading either, running with the news that Tony Blair predicts a Tory victory next year:

However, the story is not all it seems. The only quote The Telegraph supplies is from an anonymous source who claims that the former Labour PM made the prediction in a private meeting with them:

“The Conservatives will be the next government because Labour has failed to make a good case for itself. That is what Tony thinks. He does not think that Miliband can beat Cameron.”

Not quite so, according to Tony Blair’s office. Possibly trying to quash the story by refusing to give it much oxygen, his office simply confirmed that Blair believes Labour “can indeed win”.

To make these two quotes into a front page splash feels like a bit of a stretch, and the story seems to say more about the views of the anonymous source and The Telegraph’s editorial stance than Blair’s own opinions. His alleged prediction is certainly a far cry from Blair’s own rule that “progressives should be optimists” that he made in a speech earlier this year.

LabourList understands that Blair is willing to publicly campaign for the Labour Party in the coming months, but has so far not been approached by the central Party. If there are no advances forthcoming from Brewers’ Green, he will campaign on a more local scale with friendly MPs and candidates.

Ultimately, while this is not the kind of front page Miliband would like to see, he probably recognises that this story is a bit light on substance and there are more pressing concerns today.

UPDATE: “Ed Miliband and the Labour Party can and will win the next election.” Pretty unequivocal.