Charles Clarke, the former Home Secretary sacked over the foreign prisoner fiasco, has launched an astonishing attack on Gordon Brown, questioning his fitness to succeed Tony Blair as Prime Minister and reigniting Labour’s leadership crisis.
In an interview with the Evening Standard, Mr Clarke singled out photographs showing the Chancellor grinning broadly as he left No 10 after heated talks with the Prime Minister two days ago.
“A lot of people are very upset and cross about that. It was absolutely stupid: a stupid, stupid thing to do,” he said.
Mr Clarke was the most high-profile victim of a major Cabinet reshuffle in May, paying the price for Home Office failures to keep track of foreign prisoners who should have been considered for deportation after serving their sentences.
Advertisement
Since that time he has made several high-profile interventions to criticise Mr Blair and to defend his own record, although he says that he has no plans - as yet - to stand in the contest to succeed him.
In first overt attack on Mr Brown from a senior Labour figure - an attack which exacerbated fears among Brownites that a ‘Get Gordon’ campaign was under way - he criticised the Chancellor failing to slap down the rebellion which forced Mr Blair into publicly committing himself to going within a year.
“What he should have done was come out strongly and distance himself from them. He could have done that with a click of his fingers. This has been complete madness,” Mr Clarke said.
He added: “Part of the problem is that he (Mr Brown) lacks confidence. He is nervous. That could all change when the burden of waiting for the job is lifted from his shoulders and I think it probably will. But the problem is, nobody really knows.
“He is not where he should be at the moment. He is talented and brilliant but there are these little incidents, like the grin in the car, that build up a terrible picture.”
Advertisement
Mr Clarke’s outburst provoked angry reactions from Labour colleagues. Harriet Harman, the Constitutional Affairs Minister who is known to support Mr Brown, expressed “anger” at his comments.
She told Channel 4 News At Noon: “We have been a very successful Government but we really do have to shut up now, otherwise we will be walking into a situation when we do the Conservatives’ job for them and let them into Government.”
Glenda Jackson, the leftwinger, went further, apparently seeing it as part of a plot to destabilise the Chancellor’s leadership ambitions.
She said: “Charles Clarke’s comments seem to prove what everybody has long feared - that there are people close to the Prime Minister who would prefer to see David Cameron as Prime Minister rather than Gordon Brown.”
But Frank Field, MP for Birkenhead and former welfare minister, said that he had been “troubled” by Mr Brown’s conduct over the past week and said it was “pretty appalling” of him to assume that he had a right to become Prime Minister just because he had been Chancellor.
Advertisement
“He could have stopped the near-destruction of the Government if he’d wanted to but didn’t, but doesn’t seem to appreciate at all how near that destruction came,” Mr Field complained.
“I think the Chancellor’s behaviour this week raises in a serious form some of the questions that a number of people, myself included, have about the Chancellor.”
The continuing row suggested that Mr Blair’s resignation pledge yesterday, pre-empted by Mr Brown’s declaration of support, have failed to calm the frenzied atmosphere in Westminster.
Bookmakers still have Mr Brown as the clear odds-on favourite to succeed his old rival, but Mr Blair’s impending departure will focus attention on what policy shifts a Brown premiership would bring - and what the alternatives might be.
Nick Robinson, the BBC Political Editor, said that even after the Blair and Brown statements, tempers remained frayed. Robinson quoted one “Blairite minister” as telling him: “It would be an absolute f***ing disaster if Gordon Brown was Prime Minister and I will everything in my power to f***ing stop him.”
Advertisement
In his Evening Standard interview, Mr Clarke said that it was “likely” that Mr Brown would become Labour’s next leader. But he added: “If you ask me if it is inevitable, I would say no. It depends very much on the circumstances of the election and Gordon setting out his views positively and setting a course for his leadership.
“Certainly, he hasn’t done that in the past. For a year I have urged him to set out a course openly. So has Tony. It is down to him now.”