TV host Amol Rajan held Tony Blair to account on BBC Two this evening after he admitted he is "powerless" to help those fearing mass immigration and a rapidly changing "technology revolution".
Rajan questioned the former Labour Prime Minister, who governed Britain from 1997 until 2007, over claims of being "insensitive" - something which Blair denied. The presenter went on to highlight that some Britons have seen their communities change completely in the space of a single generation and "feel a profound sense of cultural loss", while also challenging Blair on the rapid global technological growth - including artificial intelligence (AI).
"We don't like the way the world is changing and want things to slow down," Rajan told him. "What excites you horrifies us!"
Blair replied that he "can't stop people from losing their jobs due to [new] technology" or ease their anxieties about mass immigration. "I'm super-sensitive to the anxieties," he continued, "but I'm not going to say I can protect you from the way the world is changing because I can't."
Viewers exploded as they took to Twitter to vent their frustrations about the former Prime Minister's attitude and track record as a leader. Blair had suggested that "rules" and "control" over immigration would help - but viewers disagreed.
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"Excuse me #TonyBlair, there are people that absolutely want to stop #Immigration and reverse it to pre 1997 when you lost control," one exclaimed.
"I now live in an area where I am the only English person, how is that progress, it's loss of UK culture. You destroyed the #UK."
"Oh yes, #TonyBlair, the man that destroyed the country but finds a way to justify what he did, and now the #UK will never be the same again, my child goes to a school with 43 languages and none of them receive the education they should," a second viewer chimed in.
A third lamented that Blair had "mocked the post-Brexit migration boom".
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Some were so open-mouthed by Blair's comments that they questioned whether it was an "AI-generated interview".
Rajan suggested that Blair made a "powerful moral argument", after he argued that "life expectancy is higher than ever before" due to globalisation.
Blair added: "We're going to slow growth... and do ourselves a lot of damage if we don't [embrace globalisation]."
He added that by introducing "rules" around immigration, it would give people a sense that it was "controlled" and make them feel more comfortable about it.
Meanwhile, discussing the explosion of AI, he was accused of dismissing people's fears after arguing: "In the 19th century there were a lot of people who didn't want the industrial revolution but you're not going to stop it."
He added: "It doesn't mean just let it happen - you need to reskill people and invest in education."
