‘History won’t forgive us’ if UK falls behind in quantum computing race, says Tony Blair

Tony Blair: ‘As we have seen with AI, it is the countries that have the infrastructure and capital for scale that capture technology’s economic and strategic benefits.’ Photograph: Jade Gao/AFP/Getty Images

Tony Blair has said “history won’t forgive us” if the UK falls behind in the race to harness quantum computing, a frontier technology predicted to trigger the next wave of breakthroughs in everything from drug design to climate modelling.

The former British Labour prime minister, whose thinktank and consultancy, the Tony Blair Institute, is backed by tech industry leaders including the Oracle founder, Larry Ellison, warned: “The country risks failing to convert its leadership in quantum research.”