From YouTube to U-turn, Blears expresses regret

Published on Friday 12 June 2009 22:13

A CONTRITE Hazel Blears yesterday responded to the fury caused by her shock departure from the Cabinet by admitting she would regret her behaviour for the rest of her life.

In a clear attempt to save herself from deselection by her local party or defeat at the next general election, Ms Blears admitted a number of "mistakes" in the way she resigned.

Her decision to quit on the eve of the European elections was said to have contributed to Labour's worst results for almost a century.

The party polled less than 16 per cent of votes, allowing the British National Party to have its first two MEPs elected, with BNP leader Nick Griffin winning in the North-West region that covers Ms Blears' constituency.

Labour also lost its last four county councils and almost 300 councillors in English local elections held on the same day.

It emerged last night that Ms Blears could face a vote of no confidence next week when her Salford constituency party meets to consider dropping her as its parliamentary candidate.

Ms Blears's job as Communities Secretary had been at risk after she criticised an appearance by the Prime Minister on YouTube, then became embroiled in allegations she had "flipped" her London and constituency homes to avoid paying capital gains tax.

Yesterday, she said she regretted quitting on the eve of polling day, and described her attack on Mr Brown as "thoughtless and quite cruel".

After Mr Brown used the internet channel to broadcast his plans to reform the discredited system of MPs' expenses, Ms Blears criticised the government's "lamentable failure" to get its message across, and said: "YouTube if you want to. But it's no substitute for knocking on doors or setting up a stall in the town centre."

Ms Blears has now said in an interview: "I thought I was clever – it was too clever by half. It was flippant and I only realised later how hurtful it was."

Ms Blears's position looked untenable when it emerged she avoided paying tax on the sale of a home, which Mr Brown branded "totally unacceptable".

But the greatest damage was done when she quit on the day before the European elections – in the wake of other ministerial departures, including those of Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.

When Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell quit next day, it gave the impression Blairite ministers were plotting to wound the Prime Minister with orchestrated resignations.

Ms Blears milked the moment by sporting a brooch bearing the words "rocking the boat".

She insisted yesterday there was no plot to undermine the Prime Minister. "I had no idea James was going. I genuinely thought I could go without sparking off this huge firestorm.

"In hindsight, that judgment was wrong. I should have waited until after the election. The effect on the party is something I will live with for ever."

She said her brooch was an attempt to show she was not "cowed" after four weeks of media pressure. "It was a stupid thing to do but I think it was just trying to put a brave face on – not going out cowed on the basis of expenses claims that genuinely are not true."

Ms Blears has ruled out a return to government, despite Mr Brown's suggestion he would be keen to see her come back.

Lindsay Hoyle, Labour MP for the nearby seat of Chorley, said supporters were furious at the timing of the resignation, which he linked to the BNP's success and the defeat of many Labour councillors.

He added: "It's always good to apologise (but] I'm not sure the members are ready to forgive and forget. The fact we've got a BNP member elected – people are blaming her for that."

GORDON Brown was hit with another ministerial resignation yesterday when the man overseeing the government's plans for ensuring high-speed broadband internet coverage across the UK by 2012 announced he would leave in the summer.

Communications Minister Lord Carter was recruited by Mr Brown in 2007 from City PR firm Brunswick – giving up a 500,000 salary for a more modest 140,000 wage – to run the Prime Minister's office in Downing Street.

But Lord Carter fell out with other Downing Street aides over plans to "repackage" the Prime Minister, and was made a peer to allow him to become a government minister.

His interim Digital Britain report in January was criticised for lacking ambition as it called for a two megabits per second universal broadband while critics pointed out that the average speed in much of the country was already around 3.6mbps.

&#149 Shahid Malik, the embattled communities minister, will not learn until next week if he is to be investigated by Westminster's anti-sleaze watchdog. A complaint has been made about Mr Malik's alleged misuse of his MP's allowances.

Ministers merry-go-round slated

MINISTERS should be kept in their posts for three years at least, to encourage them to plan for the long term and resist the temptation of gimmicky policies, a report has suggested.

It said those who fail to perform should be dropped from the government – not shifted to new ministerial posts.

Researchers at the think-tank Demos found the ministerial merry-go-round has sped up, with ministers changing department on average every 15 months – half as long as they lasted 30 years ago.

Caroline Flint, who quit as Europe minister in last week's reshuffle, is the most "churned" minister, serving in five departments since 2003, Demos said. John Reid was the most "churned" Cabinet member, with seven posts in eight years.

The chief executives of the world's top 500 companies served for an average of 6.2 years – almost five times the that of ministers in large government departments.

The report warned that ministerial churn "encourages short-termism, gives greater power to unelected civil servants" and makes ministers "more likely to go for headline-grabbing policy gimmicks rather than pursue long-term strategies".

It says brief tenures mean ministers do not have time to master their brief or tackle deep-seated problems.