Clarke pours scorn on "ditherer" Brown

Saturday, 9 February 2008 12:00 AM

Former home secretary Charles Clarke has launched a withering attack on Gordon Brown.

The prime minister is dismissed as a "ditherer" by Mr Clarke, a close ally of Mr Brown's predecessor Tony Blair, in an interview in today's Daily Mail newspaper.

Mr Clarke is concerned by a lack of direction emanating from Downing Street and blames Mr Brown for Cabinet tensions between justice secretary Jack Straw and home secretary Jacqui Smith.

"I have to start a debate about all this because it is only two and a half years until the next general election, and it is imperative that there is a discussion of Labour's future before it has no future and is obliterated," he said.

His outspoken comments follow a more measured appraisal of the current political situation in the UK published last month.

Mr Clarke said Labour had "wasted" the first half of the current parliament and blamed "inner-party" conflict in an article for the Labour journal Progress.

Today Mr Clarke, who was forced to resign as home secretary in 2006 but denies bitterness, warned it was "unlikely that people will keep quiet much longer".

"The art of politics is about fast reactions. When something comes along, you have to respond very quickly or it runs away from you," he added.

"You saw it with David Cameron over MPs' expenses when he was out, very fast, dealing with the situation. Gordon must stop being a ditherer. He lacks courage. He looks at his papers, dithers and isn't sure."

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• party politics