The Tony Blair Institute has insisted that the conference is not about creating a new political party. However, the summit will fuel speculation that the group will end up becoming a party after the left-wing movement of the Labor party since Sir Tony left office.
A source told Politico: “Some people think this is the center’s new embryonic party, but no one wants to say it.”
The British Project’s advisory board includes a number of former MPs and ministers frozen from their parties by less centrist policies. It includes former Conservative ministers isolated from the post-Brexit party, Rory Stewart and David Gauke, and former MPs Angela Smith and Luciana Berger, who left Labor to join Change UK.
Sir Tony first mentioned the work at the conference in a speech in January, warning of a “huge hole in Britain’s government where there should be new ideas”.
He said Brexit, technology and climate change are three “revolutionary changes” for which the UK is “ill-prepared”.
Sir Tony said: “We need to make our economy highly competitive, attract world – class talent and make our independence from the EU a platform for economic growth.
“But it needs a plan, in which it has been worked on and thought hard. Detail of the policy. Strategic analysis. Currently, there is none.”
A spokesman for the Tony Blair Institute said: “The event has nothing to do with the creation of a new political party. It is a conference of ideas.”
A spokesman for Project Britain added: “Project Britain was established as a much-needed meeting place for progressive ideas, working with people from all political traditions. We are not and do not have ambition or want to be a political party.
“This will be a conference of ideas that will show the political opportunity for progressive politics in Britain and the need for an ambitious plan that will shape the country for the next decade.
“This conference, and our involvement with both partners, has nothing to do with the establishment of a new political party in the UK.”