Brilliant moment Richard Tice slapped down Tony Blair live on-air 23 years ago

A clip has emerged from an early noughties episode of BBC Question Time where Reform UK Chairman Richard Tice engaged in a deep debate with the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

The 59-year-old British businessman, whose party's leader Nigel Farage trumpeted their election pledges today, was a fresh-faced member of the audience in 2001 when Mr Blair was Prime Minister.

In archive footage shared by journalist Dan Wootton on X, Mr Tice, wearing a white shirt, opened his question saying "average unemployment in the Eurozone countries is double that of the unemployment rate in Britain".

Addressing Mr Blair, he continued: "If we join the Euro, we will have higher taxes, higher regulation and it will destroy British jobs, it will not protect them and it will not create them."

After a ripple of applause from the audience to Mr Tice's comment, Mr Blair said he would have to say that he "disagreed with that", adding: "Provided that our economy is convergent with those of mainstream Europe, then I believe it would be good for British jobs and British industry.

"Now you say, for example, that being part of the single currency would harm British jobs or mean higher taxes, it wouldn't mean either of those things if the economic conditions were right, because it would allow us to have the exchange rate stability that in fact, we talk to many people in our manufacturing industry, they're desperate for."

The former Labour Prime Minister added that he agreed if it were the case the UK joined when the "economics were wrong" as it had been two years earlier, then it would have been "the wrong thing to do".

Interjecting, Mr Tice reiterated his point about the unemployment rate in Europe and claimed that "nine out of 10 jobs in Britain are not dependent on European trade".

Challenging Mr Blair, he added: "What about those nine people, why are you doing everything for the one out of 10?"

Mr Blair, who won his second General Election with the Labour Party in 2001, fought back, exclaiming: "I'm not doing everything for the one out of 10.

"When you say that because unemployment is higher in some parts of Europe than it is in Britain, if we join the Single Currency it means unemployment goes up, that's simply not the case.

"And the fact is, when you talk about jobs being dependent on Europe, we probably have something like three million jobs dependent on Europe in this country, something like 60 percent of our export trade is dependent on Europe".

A voice off camera appeared to try and interrupt, but Mr Blair would not be budged and concluded: "If we were to take, I don't know if this is your position or not sir, if we were to take the course that the Conservatives are arguing, and withdraw to the margins of Europe then I tell you it would be a disaster for British jobs and British industry and people should understand that."