Tim Farron admits he DID meet former Prime Minister Tony Blair to talk about working together in an anti-Brexit alliance
The pair had chats at the fellow Remainer's request seven months ago
LIB DEM boss Tim Farron has revealed he has held secret talks with Tony Blair about forming an anti-Brexit alliance.
The former Labour PM invited Mr Farron for a one-to-one “several months ago,” the Lib Dem leader admitted.
And this morning he showered praise on Mr Blair for winning over a “coalition” of Labour and non-Labour voters to defeat the Tories at three general elections in a row - fuelling speculation the pair are plotting a new centrist, pro-EU group.
The pair of arch-Europhiles are both campaigning for a second EU referendum.
But in a bid to fight off claims he is trying to block overturn last year’s democratic Brexit vote, Mr Farron insisted even he was “a bit of a Eurosceptic” - pointing out that he quit the Lib Dem frontbench nine years ago to vote in favour of holding an EU referendum.
Today Mr Farron love-bombed Mr Blair on the eve of the 20th anniversary of Labour’s famous 1997 landslide election triumph.
In a sign of the radical shift in politics since he left No10 a decade ago, Mr Blair said he now has “more in common” with the Lib Dems than Labour.
A source close to Mr Blair said he wanted to “save the Labour party along with his legacy by wading in behind the Lib Dems and forgina a new progressive alliance that will fight for the centre ground”.
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And he said in an interview with the Observer that Labour didn't want to win.
Last week he gave his strongest hint yet that he was returning to frontline politics - saying his opposition to Brexit had made him “motivated to go right back into it”.
But his former deputy prime minister Lord Prescott launched an astonishing attack yesterday - and even demanded the Labour party expels Mr Blair for supporting rival parties.
Lord Prescott said: “When Tony was leader, we expelled people for advocating voting for other parties. I can’t see what he is doing is any different.”
Confessing about their secret partnership Mr Farron told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “Several months ago I met with Tony Blair at his request - I thought it was only courteous to do so.”
He insisted he had many “disagreements” with the former PM - including the “illegal and counterproductive war in Iraq”.
But he added: “I do admire Tony Blair for one thing in particular, and that is his ability to put together a small-c coalition that was able to win a general election and defeat the Conservatives in 1997.”
Dominic Raab MP, a member of the Brexit Select Committee, said: “Make no mistake, Tim Farron and the Liberal Democrats would happily cut a grubby deal with Jeremy Corbyn to disrupt our Brexit negotiations and get a sniff of power.
"From weakening our defences to raising taxes, there’s plenty of common ground they’d find in their coalition of chaos - and it’s the British people who would pay the price."
And Mr Farron defended his decision to work with Mr Blair - insisting it was the only way to beat the Tories.
The Lib Dem leader has ruled out forming a coalition in government with either the Tories or Labour.
But footage emerged of leading Lib Dem figures - including Mr Farron and former leader Nick Clegg - declaring the party should not rule out a second deal to share power.