Harriet Harman was yesterday moved to issue an emphatic commitment that she would not run for leader of the Labour party in an attempt to draw a line under a weekend of widespread speculation about Gordon Brown's future.
The deputy Labour leader's comments mean all three senior politicians tipped to be "caretaker" leaders of the Labour party have appeared in public over the bank holiday weekend to rule themselves out.
Rebellious MPs, convinced Brown is too damaged to remain as PM, are pushing for a veteran to be prepared to take over after what they expect will be a mauling in the local and European elections on 4 June.
Labour MPs are astounded at inept government handling of changes to MPs' expenses and a misreading of the mood on the backbenches over plans to limit rights for Gurkhas – inflicting on the government its first parliamentary defeat under Brown – and believe the prime minister's position will be untenable should the party not improve on its performance last year when it only got 24% of the national vote.
The vocal minority agitating for a leadership change, with as much as a year before the next general election, appeared to receive high-profile endorsement this weekend when the communities secretary Hazel Blears described the government's "lamentable failure" to engage with voters and warned of "dire consequences" if the government did not re-engage.
Within hours, however, Blears issued a statement saying Brown had her "100% support". Later justice minister Jack Straw and health secretary Alan Johnson mounted gushing defences of Brown, with their united front bolstered by former Labour leader Neil Kinnock describing rumours of leadership challenges as "ludicrous and damaging".
As part of a renewed reckoning with its increasingly fractious backbenches, the government is working hard to head off another Commons rebellion on plans to part-privatise the Royal Mail by reaching a compromise with the centre-left campaign group Compass which would see the service run along the lines of Network Rail.
Yesterday, Harman also dashed backbenchers' hopes, denying a newspaper report suggesting she would fight to replace Brown if he stood down. Harman called the reports "rubbish".
When asked on the BBC's Today programme whether she planned to run, should a vacancy arise, Harman said: "No." She went on: "I am saying there are no circumstances ... I do not want to be prime minister. I do not want to be leader of the party. I want Gordon Brown to remain PM after the next election as well as before the election."
Harman allies said the current atmosphere made it necessary for the deputy leader to knock on the head all speculation. Emily Thornberry, MP for Islington South and Finsbury, described her comments as "neither here nor there". She said: "It wasn't a surprise to me that Harriet ruled herself out. She's been the subject of endless tittle tattle and it's not surprising that she'd want to draw a line under them."
However, the force of Harman's comments is surprising since she has been seen to command the kind of broad support across unions, MPs and party members needed in any race to replace Brown. In contrast to Alan Johnson – who apparently inadvertently found himself saying over the weekend "I'm not saying there are no circumstances" – Harman has now put on record that there are no circumstances in which she will go for the top job. Brownites will be concerned that since Johnson's comments were the most ambiguous, he has now become the front runner for those intent on mobilising.
Rebel MPs, such as former ministers Frank Field and Kate Hoey, were already talking openly of a possible challenge if Labour did badly in the European and local government elections. This week another serial rebel Graham Stringer is to convene a meeting of dissatisfied MPs to discuss mechanisms for changing leader.
Moves by Harman over the last year – including attacks on City bonuses, sex discrimination, and the pension of Sir Fred Goodwin – have consistently been interpreted as positioning to be the natural successor to Brown if he were unseated. After Labour's defeat in the Glasgow East byelection, Harman is alleged to have said "this is my moment".
However, Jon Cruddas, the MP for Dagenham, who has been described as a possible running mate for Harman, has said he believes the deputy leader to have been briefed against by cabinet colleagues for "having the temerity to develop a policy agenda of her own".
Yesterday colleagues said Harman's denial was not quite as copper-bottomed as that made by Lyndon B Johnson in 1968 – himself borrowing that of American Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman – announcing he would not seek a second full term when he said: "I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president."
Deputy news editor
Harriet Harman leaned across the BBC's sofa yesterday morning, "grabbed" a marker pen and into the headline Harman: I'd Fight for Leadership on the front page of the Daily Telegraph inserted the word NOT. She explained: "When I ran … in a big contest for the deputy leadership of the Labour party I said first and foremost I'll be a loyal deputy to Gordon Brown. That is exactly what I am doing. That is why I corrected the headline for you."
Harman is the not the first to prefer some theatrics with a marker pen to the letters page of a newspaper. Last summer her cabinet colleague David Miliband was similarly accused of plotting to replace Brown and into the main headline of that day's Daily Telegraph, proclaiming Labour at War, he also added the word NOT.
No comments:
Post a Comment