EMBRACE robots and repel migrants, former PM Tony Blair told his successor today in his own personal manifesto.

Mr Blair, who has returned to influence in Labour under Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership, said that the new government should address the “grievance” of those upset about immigration.

“The populist usually doesn’t invent a grievance, they exploit the grievance,” the ex-leader advised.

“If you want to close off their avenues for increasing support, you’ve got to deal with the grievance. That’s why Keir is absolutely right in saying you’ve got to have controls on immigration.”

Mr Blair added that “doesn’t mean to say we don’t celebrate the good that immigration can do, because it does an immense amount of good for this country, but you do need to have controls.”

He also restated his passionate advocacy of Artificial Intelligence in a speech to a conference organised by his institute.

“There is only one game-changer — harnessing effectively the 21st-century technological revolution.

“Things which were impossible will become possible; advances which would have taken decades will happen in a few years or even months; the value we can add, the improvements in efficiency we can make, the radical benefits in outcomes we can secure, could be truly revolutionary,” he said, emphasising that only AI could deliver the growth Labour seeks.

Returning to another of his pet themes, Mr Blair advocated introducing the identity cards to access services which he tried and failed to bring in when in power.

“The civil liberties arguments are important until you realise the amount of information you give to Amazon, Netflix, your local supermarket,” he said. This, at least, ministers have so far ruled out.