So what if Tony Blair is pulling Keir Starmer’s strings?

Is the ex-PM behind a dastardly plot to persuade his successor to reverse Brexit? Steady on, says John Rentoul. The truth is rather more nuanced – but Labour could benefit from a bit of Blair backseat-driving

Tony Blair is said to have used his EU contacts to help arrange Keir Starmer’s extraordinary Elysee visit (PA)

Daily Mail readers were supposed to be horrified to learn that Tony Blair was behind Tuesday’s meeting between Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron.

“A Whitehall source said the former prime minister had used his extensive EU contacts book to arrange the meeting,” said the Mail, painting a lurid picture of a secret plot by the Conservatives’ arch-enemy to reverse Brexit.

The newspaper noted that not only had the Labour leader met the French president, but on the same day the French and German governments launched a joint plan to create a four-tier Europe as part of the next phase of expanding the European Union. The scheme offers the prospect of the UK joining tier three, alongside Switzerland and Norway, which the Mail said “could see Britain effectively rejoin the EU as an ‘associate member’”.

Of course, there may be some readers of the Mail who would be less than horrified at the prospect of a closer relationship with Britain’s largest market. There may be rather more readers of The Independent who think that, if Blair is pulling Starmer’s strings, this can only be a good thing.

The truth is less dramatic, which is that Blair’s contacts with Macron and his top advisers, and with important people in EU institutions, would be useful to Starmer, who is keen to meet international leaders and to present himself as a prime minister-in-waiting.

It can be difficult for leaders of the opposition to arrange meetings with foreign leaders, who have to be careful not to be seen to be interfering in the internal politics of other countries – although it was not a “breach of protocol” for Macron to meet Starmer, as was widely suggested. Blair’s good offices clearly helped to make sure that Macron’s reservations were overcome.

No doubt Blair was also aware of the Franco-German plan – although his people are tight-lipped about whether he was part of the choreography of unveiling it at the same time as Starmer’s visit.

But it would be rather Blair-like to have advised that it would be a neat idea to publish what would be interpreted as an EU “love letter” to Starmer to coincide with his arrival at the Elysee.

It was entirely predictable that Starmer would reject the offer of membership of the third tier, as this would mean Britain rejoining the EU single market. The Labour leader ran away last night from the idea of associate membership, which, after all, has the word “membership” in it. But the idea that there might be a place for “even the UK” in the new model Europe could be useful to Labour.

So far, the only place for the UK is the one we have at the moment, in the European Political Community, Macron’s idea for a fourth, outer tier of EU influence. And the Franco-German plan is a rebuff for those who suggested that the EU would not be interested in Starmer’s ideas for a better trade deal. There is clearly more scope for flexibility on the EU side, as it adjusts to the prospect of admitting Ukraine to some form of membership.

The Daily Mail reported that Blair “believes that reversing Brexit can be a vote-winner” for Starmer, which someone close to the former prime minister tells me is “nonsense”. I suspect that this is a distortion of Blair’s actual view, which is that Starmer has the space to point out that Brexit has been managed badly, and to explore ways in which the relationship with the EU can be repaired – without, at this stage, going back into the single market.

What Blair can say that Starmer cannot (yet) is that this might lead in time to some kind of association with a restructured EU at some time in the not-too-distant future.

Indeed, there must be many pro-EU people not previously well-disposed to Blair who hope that he will indeed be the next Labour government’s backseat driver.