Former prime minister Tony Blair has revealed he was “obsessed” with creating a British Football League.
During an interview with BBC Scotland, Blair said he believed having a joint league would have strengthened the bond between England and Scotland after devolution.
“I know it sounds a bit strange but I was for a time quite obsessed with the idea that, for example, for football we should be opening up the English league and the Scottish league and having them together,” he said.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Latest Videos FromThe Week
“I always thought we should be looking at ways of making sure that people felt a connection.”
Blair added that he could still see a “certain logic” in the concept of a combined British league, but conceded that any proposals for a joint British team would be a “step too far”.
He said: “I was looking for ways of making sure that as we in a sense diverged around devolution, that there were elements of convergence and I still think in the future it is important we look for that.
“In the end, the UK is an alliance of interests and values that is incredibly important for England and for Scotland in the modern world.
“One of the reasons I was always against nationalism is that I felt that ultimately, although I understood the reasons for it, it’s got a divisive aspect to it and so for me devolution was about a sensible set of reforms to government, but I wanted to make sure all the way through that we kept that sense of unity culturally and politically at the right level for the UK.”
But while Blair believes a British league would bring people together, many Twitter users disagreed.
However, others backed the former PM’s proposal.
