Hazel Blears says she regrets Cabinet resignation timing
- 00:01:21
- ITN
Hazel Blears says she regrets Cabinet resignation timing
Hazel Blears has said she regrets the timing of her resignation from the Government. The former communities secretary, who caused huge anger in the Labour ranks by walking out of the Cabinet the day before last week's elections, denied it was designed to inflict maximum damage on Gordon Brown. She insists the move was not part of a plot to oust the Prime Minister or trigger further resignations from the Government. The Salford MP said her position became untenable after Mr Brown described her failure to pay capital gains tax on the sale of a second home as "totally unacceptable". In an interview, she said she had not spoken to Cabinet colleagues, including James Purnell who quit the following day, about her plan to resign. Ms Blears said she now realised she should not have walked out the day before the European and local elections. "I genuinely thought I could go without it sparking off this huge firestorm," she said. "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." Former deputy prime minister John Prescott is among those who have attacked Ms Blears for undermining the work of Labour activists in the disastrous elections for the party.
ITN | June 12, 2009
