Reid accused of Brown 'plotting'

12 April 2012

Home Secretary John Reid has been accused by an ally of Gordon Brown of plotting against the Chancellor and seeking to "provoke" his supporters.

Labour backbencher George Mudie said Mr Reid was trying to bait the Brown camp into calling for a change of direction when Tony Blair quits office.

Mr Mudie said this would enable the Home Secretary - an ultra-Blairite - to accuse the Chancellor of disloyalty and to challenge him for the leadership. The former deputy chief whip added that a keynote speech by Mr Reid was an "early marker" of his intentions.

Speaking to Labour activists in south London, Mr Reid gave no clue on whether he would challenge Mr Brown for the leadership.

Senior aides rejected suggestions that his high profile intervention amounted to a shot across the bows of the Chancellor amid growing speculation that he would be crowned leader without having to fight an election.

But Mr Reid made it clear that he wanted a vigorous and open debate on Labour's future direction after Mr Blair's departure and that he aimed to play a key role in shaping that future.

Mr Mudie told BBC Radio 4's The World at One that there was a definite need for the Labour Party to consider its "direction of travel".

But he added: "I think the timing (of Mr Reid's speech) is important. I think it's just an early attempt to put a marker down to get some of Gordon Brown's supporters to say we need a change of direction, so that he can say 'this is disloyalty to the leader and therefore I shall throw my hat into the ring or I shall find someone to do it'."

In his speech, Mr Reid hailed the Chancellor for having a record that "towers above anything which anyone in the Tory party could ever aspire to". But he did not follow the lead of other Cabinet colleagues in endorsing him as the next Labour leader.

Mr Reid said Labour needed a "new agenda, driven once again by the politics of aspiration" and including moves to extend choice in the public services.

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