Former UK prime minister Tony Blair has said that Britain was in a dangerous mess and that neither his own Labour Party nor Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservatives deserved to win the December 12 election.

“We’re a mess,” Mr Blair said at a Reuters Newsmaker event. “The buoyancy of the world economy has kept us going up to now, but should that falter, we will be in deep trouble.”

Mr Blair, Labour prime minister from 1997 to 2007, said both major parties were peddling fantasies, adding that if the opinion polls were accurate, Mr Johnson’s party looked likely to win a majority.

Mr Blair, the only Labour leader to win three elections, said his party was now controlled by its “Marxist-Leninist wing” and that its leader Jeremy Corbyn was promising a revolution.

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“The problem with revolutions is never how they begin but how they end,” said Mr Blair.

“The problem with revolutions is that they always end badly.

“The truth is: the public aren’t convinced either main party deserves to win this election outright.”

Mr Blair, an ardent opponent of Brexit, argued for a second referendum on the decision to leave, saying it would need to be followed by another general election.

Mr Johnson has pledged to take Britain out of the EU by January 31 if he wins a parliamentary majority, and then to negotiate a comprehensive deal with the bloc covering trade and future relations during a transition period due to end next December.

But Mr Blair cast doubt on that timetable and said there was still a risk that Britain could exit the EU in a year’s time without having struck a deal with its biggest trading partner.

“No-deal Brexit is not off the table,” he said. “This negotiation (on the future relationship) has no chance of being concluded in that transition period.”

Mr Blair said he did not know whether Labour, which has tacked sharply to the left under Mr Corbyn, would ever return to the centre ground of British politics, but added: “We must set about the urgent task of reconstructing the sensible mainstream of British politics.

“Otherwise, this laboratory experiment in populism running riot will end very badly for our nation.”

At the weekend, Mr Johnson pledged no new taxes, drawing a distinction with Labour which has promised to raise taxes on the rich and businesses to fund a major expansion of the state.

But the Tory manifesto offered little detail on other policy areas, with aides wanting Mr Johnson to play it safe after plans on social care in 2017 saw an opinion poll lead enjoyed by his predecessor Theresa May all but disappear.

Mr Johnson is still runaway favourite to win the election, according to opinion polls.

“Get Brexit done and we shall see a pent up tidal wave of investment into this country,” the prime minister said.

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