'I'm not just going to walk away': Tony Blair campaigns for Labour in Flint despite 'differences' with Corbyn
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has told ITV Wales that he still supports Labour despite his "differences" with the party's leader Jeremy Corbyn.
The longest-serving Labour Prime Minister was campaigning for the party in Flintshire on Friday.
"I'm 100 per cent behind the Labour party, because I think the Labour party still represents, in its values, helping people who need help.
"I've been a member of the Labour party for 45 years I think, a leader for 14, the longest-serving Labour prime minister - I'm not just going to walk away."
Support for the Labour party
Mr Blair said he was in Flint to support David Hanson, a candidate in the 2019 general election who has been the MP for Delyn since 1992.
Mr Hanson was the was Parliamentary Private Secretary for Mr Blair as Prime Minister from 2001 until the 2005 general election.
"I'm supporting in the election those moderate, decent, mainstream Labour MPs."
"They will not stand up for things they don't believe in and they will stand up for what they do believe in - it's important to get those people in Parliament."
In 2018, Mr Blair said that the Labour party had become a “different party” under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership.
He admitted that his "differences with the Labour leadership are well-known," but told ITV Wales that a Conservative-led government is more of a risk in the election.
"I've been a member of the Labour party for 45 years I think, a leader for 14, the longest-serving Labour prime minister - I'm not just going to walk away from the Labour party.
"I don't minimise the differences I've got with the leadership, just as they don't with me, but I do think that's not really the risk in this election.
Brexit
In May, Mr Blair urged Labour supporters who can no longer vote for the party to endorse another which backs Remain.
He said leader Jeremy Corbyn should have been clear from the start that although Labour respected the referendum result, they would “reserve the right to put it back to the people”.
Mr Blair, who ended the Labour party's 18-year spell as opposition in the 1997 general election with a landslide victory, claimed the Conservative position on Brexit is a threat to Wales.
"The British people are in danger of underestimating the risk of a very right-wing Conservative party with a significant majority able to do not just a no-deal Brexit but immense damage to our public services.
"They've got a whole new Brexit negotiation they will have to conduct, where a no-deal Brexit - which will be very damaging to places like the North West and Wales - this is something we should prevent if we can."
Was devolution a mistake?
It was Tony Blair who arranged for referendums on devolution to be held in both Scotland and Wales in 1997.
In 2015, he admitted his government made a "mistake" by failing to ensure that devolution of powers to Scotland and Wales did not undermine the UK's national identity.
But he said on Friday that he is "proud of devolution."
"There was much less support for Welsh devolution proportionately amongst the population than there was, for example, for the Scottish Parliament.
"None-the-less, tell me the political party today that's standing in this election for the UK that is saying, 'We will get rid of the Welsh Assembly' - there isn't one."
The 2019 general election candidates standing in Delyn:
David Hanson - Labour
Andrew Parkhurst - Liberal Democrat
Rob Roberts - Conservative
Paul Rowlinson - Plaid Cymru
Nigel Williams - Brexit Party