By Matt Chorley, Mailonline Political Editor PUBLISHED: 06:54 EST, 28 November 2012 | UPDATED: 21:05 EST, 28 November 2012 Tony Blair said yesterday that Eurosceptics were a ‘virus’ blighting politics and that Britain would be a second-rate power if it left the EU. The former prime minister warned that David Cameron’s policy of trying to repatriate powers would simply pave the way for withdrawal, which was being hastened by some Conservatives. ‘The Right have got it really bad on this Europe thing,’ he told business leaders at Chatham House in London. ‘It is a kind of virus that makes you want to take positions for the sake of asserting them, when a rational analysis says you don’t need to be in that position.’
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Former Prime Minister admits Britain could leave the EU but it will be 'hugely destructive'
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David Cameron under pressure from Tory MPs to renegotiate relationship with Brussels
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Mr Blair uses speech to warn withdrawal for ‘a monumental error of statesmanship’
David Cameron last week told journalists a deal on the @placeholder budget had not been reached at a summit in Brussels