Tony Blair says Labour must return to 'centre ground' to claim victory in five years' time

The former Prime Minister said Labour must show it stands for ‘ambition and aspiration’ as well as compassion and care.

As Labour seeks to recover from its crushing defeat in the general election, Tony Blair, who led the party to three consecutive election victories, has claimed Labour needs to return to the “centre ground”.

Writing in the Observer, Mr Blair said the Labour party needs to show it stands for “ambition and aspiration” as well as compassion and care following Thursday’s result and Ed Miliband’s swift resignation as leader.

His analysis of Labour’s strategy has been echoed by two of the potential contenders to succeed Mr Miliband’s leadership from the Blairite wing of the party; both shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna and shadow health minister Liz Kendall have already said Labour needs to speak to the UK’s “aspirational” middle-classes.

Former Labour minister Alan Johnson, who served as home secretary, health secretary and education secretary during the course of the Blair and Brown government, has already said the Labour party lost the general election because it distanced itself from New Labour and Mr Blair's rule, instead of embracing it.

But despite this criticism, and the damning words of Mr Blair’s former deputy, John Prescott, who has attacked Mr Miliband for a “stupid” failure to defend Labour’s previous record on the economy against the Tories after the 2010 general election, Mr Blair has praised Mr Miliband for his “courage under savage attack” and the way he “put his heart and soul into the fight”.

However, Mr Blair said that “the route to the summit lies through the centre ground. Labour has to be for ambition and aspiration as well as compassion and care”.

“Hard-working families don’t just want us to celebrate their hard work; they want us to know that by hard work and effort they can do well, rise up, achieve. They want to be better off and they need to know we don’t just tolerate that; we support it,” he wrote.

Mr Umunna said that Labour had spoken to “our core voters but not to aspirational, middle-class ones,” in an article for the Observer.

“We talked about the bottom and top of society, about the minimum wage and zero hours contracts, about mansions and non-doms. But we had too little to say to the majority of people in the middle,” he wrote.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, Ms Kendall said that “fundamental reform” is essential to Labour’s survival and said it needed to “show people that we understand their aspirations for the future”. She also confirmed she is considering running for the Labour leadership.

Additional reporting by PA