ANAS Sarwar and Keir Starmer have been urged to cut ties to Tony Blair’s think tank after revelations regarding its presence when a plan was developed to ethnically cleanse Gaza.
The Financial Times has revealed that the Tony Blair Institute (TBI), a non-profit organisation founded in 2016, is involved in a project led by Israeli businessmen which used financial models developed inside the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to envision Gaza as a trading hub.
Plans outlined in a slide deck, titled the “Great Trust”, were shared with US president Donald Trump and included a proposal to pay half a million Palestinians to leave the area and replace them with private investors to develop Gaza.
According to the newspaper, the TBI did not author or endorse the final slide deck, but two members of its staff were involved in message groups and calls as the project developed.
This has led to backlash, with the SNP saying the Scottish Labour leader and the Prime Minister have “real and urgent questions to answer”.
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said it was “common knowledge” that Starmer’s Downing Street political operation and Scottish Labour are “inextricably linked and influenced” by the Tony Blair Institute.
We previously reported on how Scottish Labour are reportedly consulting with TBI, which has previously called for more private involvement in the NHS, on its health policies ahead of the Holyrood 2026 election.
“The Tony Blair Institute has been involved with a group who were developing a plan which amounts to ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip. It is one more awful stain on Tony Blair’s shameful legacy in the Middle East,” Flynn (above) said.
“Given their close co-operation and ties to the Tony Blair Institute, real and urgent questions now need to be answered by both Keir Starmer and Anas Sarwar. It is common knowledge that their senior teams are inextricably linked and influenced by this Institute which, we now know, was present when a plan to steal Palestinian land and livelihoods was being developed.”
The SNP MP added: “Both Starmer and Sarwar have at least three urgent questions to answer - will they come out and publicly condemn the former Labour Party Leader, Tony Blair, whose Institute has been part of this sickening plan? Will they fully reveal their own dealings with this Institute and their team’s involvement with the staff who were aware of this sickening plan? And will they now commit to cut all ties and all funding to the Tony Blair Institute?
"If the Labour Party fails to immediately cut ties to the Tony Blair Institute, it will also severely undermine their credibility in achieving a two state-solution in the region.
“The Labour Party were shamefully slow in calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and the UK Labour Government is still authorising the sale of arms to an Israeli Government that is engaged in the collective punishment of the Palestinian people. These revelations are another part of that shameful story for the Labour Party and their neglect for the plight of the Palestinian people.”
Scottish Labour and Labour have been approached for comment.
