Hazel Blears dealt a potentially fatal blow to Gordon Brown's political authority today when she announced her departure from Cabinet on the eve of crucial local and European elections.
It was the fourth ministerial resignation in 24 hours and the second at Cabinet level after the news yesterday that Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, is also to stand down. It also came as Mr Brown's critics in the Labour Party canvassed support for a round-robin letter calling on the Prime Minister to resign.
But whereas Ms Smith had been prepared to hang on until a reshuffle, Ms Blears announced her resignation less than two hours before Prime Minister's Questions and a day ahead of elections directly relating to her job.
The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government said that she would be heading back to "grassroots" campaigning on the streets of her Salford constituency.
The timing was seen as a clear attempt to undermine Mr Brown — the Tory leader David Cameron told the Prime Minister it was "a direct challenge to your authority" — and raised fresh doubts about his ability to hold his frontbench team together.
It emerged, however, that Cabinet Office officials examining ministers' expenses claims had uncovered new "discrepancies" in Ms Blears's expenses, namely that she had avoided capital gains tax on the sale of another property that she had designated as her second home in Commons expenses.
Ms Blears had already come under pressure for "flipping" her second home and avoiding capital gains tax on the sale of a flat in Kennington, South London — which the Prime Minister had described as "totally unacceptable".
She voluntarily wrote out a £13,000 cheque for the taxman, but The Daily Telegraph reported today that the money was also to cover the tax on profits from the sale of another property.
The implication of the revelation was that Ms Blears — knowing that she was facing the sack in a reshuffle, if only for mocking the Prime Minister's YouTube video — may have decided to jump before the latest allegations surfaced so that she could focus on shoring up her position in her constituency.
It is believed that Mr Brown asked Ms Blears to delay her resignation statement until Friday or until he carries out the full reshuffle, but she refused.
In her statement, Ms Blears said: "Today I have told the Prime Minister that I am resigning from the Government. My politics has always been rooted in the belief that ordinary people are capable of extraordinary things, given the right support and encouragement.
The role of a progressive Government should be to pass power to the people. I’ve never sought high office for the sake of it, or for what I can gain, but for what I can achieve for the people I represent and serve.
"In this next phase of my political life I am redoubling my efforts to speak up for the people of Salford as their Member of Parliament.
"I am returning to the grassroots (where I began), to political activism, to the cut and thrust of political debate."
Beverley Hughes, the Children's Minister, and Tom Watson, the Cabinet Office minister, also announced their intention to leave the Government yesterday.
Meanwhile, Labour backbenchers were discussing the option of a direct appeal to the Prime Minister calling on him to resign.
Selected Labour MPs today received an e-mail asking whether they would sign a letter of no confidence in Mr Brown on Friday morning. The author of the e-mail is unclear.
Mr Brown's opponents believe that they could secure the support of 70 or 80 MPs for the move, although have not yet done so and the letter does not yet exist in hard copy.
Mainstream Labour MPs think it is unlikely such a formal move would ever be used, because they party does not want to "humiliate" the Prime Minister.
If Mr Brown hangs on, it is more likely that the "men in grey suits" from the Cabinet ask him to step down, Labour MPs believe, or a "stalking horse" could stand for the leadership to force the issue.
Speaking on Sky News, Lord Mandelson called the letter a "rumour" and said that Labour MPs are "nervous" but "the last thing any MP wants to face is a general election".
Polls ahead of tomorrow's elections suggest that Labour could be facing the worst drubbing in its history. By some counts the party is even trailing the UK Independence Party in voting intentions for the European Parliament.
Even after those challenges, Mr Brown faces an opposition day debate called by the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru next Wednesday calling for the dissolution of Parliament and a general election.
In the event, the drama of Prime Minister's Questions did not quite match the drama of events outside and Mr Cameron failed to land any killer blows.
He said that Britain now had "a dysfunctional Cabinet, a dysfunctional Government, led by a Prime Minister who can’t give a lead" and challenged Mr Brown to call a general election.
"He told us he had the right team to take the country forward," the Tory leader said. "That team is now deserting him. The Government is collapsing before our eyes.
"Why doesn’t he take the one act of authority that is left to him — get down to the Palace, ask for a dissolution, call that election?"
Mr Brown sought to brush off the attacks, insisting that MPs on all sides of the House had come under "tremendous pressure" as a result of the disclosures about their expenses claims. He was also forced to duck two challenges from Mr Cameron as to whether the Chancellor, Alistair Darling, was to lose his job in the coming reshuffle.
"This Chancellor is leading the rest of the world in taking us out of recession. This Chancellor has taken action the Conservative Party refused to support," Mr Brown said.
The Prime Minister paid tribute to both Ms Blears and Ms Smith and insisted that he was focusing on cleaning up the expenses system and steering Britain through the recession.
"At a time like this the House should come together to acknowledge contributions that have been made in the public interest," he said. "We have got two jobs of work to do. One is to clean up the expenses system, where I think everyone in this House except [Mr Cameron] agrees that we have got to take action now to clean up the system. The other is the recession."
Source:The times
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