'Traitor' Blears could be kicked out by Thursday as grovelling fails to appease her local party

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'Traitor' Blears could be kicked out by Thursday as grovelling fails to appease her local party

By Ian Drury
Last updated at 10:52 PM on 12th June 2009

Hazel Blears faces being ousted from her seat by Labour activists furious at the 'treacherous' timing of her Cabinet resignation.

The former Communities Secretary was reduced to grovelling to save her skin in Salford as it emerged 'betrayed' party members will attempt to deselect her next week.

She made a desperate bid to defuse the anger by expressing 'major regrets' over quitting on the eve of crucial local and European elections.

Regrets: Hazel Blears in her tearful interview this week

Party members said she must shoulder some blame for Labour's vote plunging to historic lows in the polls and the British National Party snatching seats in the North West.

Miss Blears also said she regretted mocking Mr Brown's YouTube video and wearing a brooch bearing the phrase 'rocking the boat' on the day she left the Cabinet - seen as a bid to undermine the Prime Minister.

She provoked anger last month when it emerged she had milked her MPs' expenses and avoided paying £13,000 in capital gains tax on the sale of one of her homes.

Exit Miss Blears: On the day she resigned wearing the 'rocking the boat' badge

Last night she was fighting for her political survival after three branches of her constituency Labour Party put forward motions of no-confidence for consideration on Thursday.

But her public display of contrition was seen by senior Labour MPs as a shameless attempt to keep her seat.

Lindsay Hoyle, a veteran backbencher, said the party was in 'no mood to forgive and forget'.

Brian Simpson, Labour MEP for the North West, described Miss Blears's actions as 'unforgivable'.

He said: 'For the campaign workers who had been out on the street, the volunteers and the candidates, in the most difficult of circumstances for over four weeks, we do expect our senior colleagues to understand that, prior to the election, they need to act with responsibility.

'I didn't feel Hazel acted with responsibility last week. The BNP just squeaked in, not because they polled any more than they did five years ago, but because a lot of Labour supporters stayed home.

'I really don't believe the resignation 24 hours before a major election was helpful.

'To do it at the time she did was unhelpful, and that is unforgivable. I know there are a lot of very unhappy Labour Party members out there.'

One letter circulated among activists in Salford condemned Miss Blears, who is defending a 7,945 majority, as 'morally disgusting'.

One source said party members were still furious at her 'treachery and betrayal'. He said: 'She put personal revenge before the party good and now we want her out.'

'Stupid': The controversial brooch

Miss Blears made the decision to quit the Cabinet on Wednesday last week, a day after her friend Jacqui Smith quit as Home Secretary.

In her first interview since her resignation, she seemed close to tears as she denied being part of a plot by to destabilise Mr Brown.

She said the 'effect on the party' is 'something I will regret forever'.

Miss Blears said she thought that as other ministers had announced they would stand down, she could quit without sparking a 'huge firestorm'.

Back on top: Gordon Brown holding his second Cabinet meeting in a week today

Mocked: The Prime Minister in the much-ridiculed YouTube video

Women Against Gordon: Hazel Blears, Jacqui Smith and Caroline Flint who all resigned from Government last week. Miss Blears says there was no plot

But she admitted: 'In the end, that judgment was wrong.'

She said of the 'rocking the boat' brooch: 'At that point I just had enough, it was a stupid thing to do in retrospect but it was just putting a brave face on, not going out as a coward on the basis of expenses claims which genuinely are not true.'

And she regretted mocking Mr Brown's much-criticised appearance on YouTube in a newspaper article.

She had written: 'Promote your message via YouTube if you want to. But it is no substitute for knocking on doors or setting up a stall in the town centre.'

Her jibe was 'thoughtless and quite cruel', she said, adding: 'I thought it was clever - it was too clever by half.

'It was flippant and I only realised later how hurtful it was.'

Mr Brown later publicly declared her avoidance of £13,000 in capital gains tax on the sale of her home in Kennington, South London, to be 'totally unacceptable'.

She apologised and vowed to repay the money despite insisting she had done nothing wrong.

Miss Blears said she hoped there would be no attempts to deselect her at a meeting of her Constituency Labour Party later this month.

She added: 'What I do welcome is the chance to talk to the party and go through everything that has happened and acknowledge my mistakes.'