Blears tells Cabinet to 'get a grip' in Harman feud over leadership

Hazel Blears has laid bare the scale of Cabinet in-fighting over Harriet Harman by telling her colleagues to "get a grip".

In an extraordinary public slap-down, the Communities Secretary said voters would not forgive ministers jockeying for promotion during a recession. "My message to my colleagues is simple: Get a grip," she said in a speech. "Our first loyalty is to the British people. If they think that we are more interested in our own jobs than theirs they will not forgive us. If the mindset is all about what happens after some future election defeat then the game's up."

Ms Blears's intervention confirms that this week's outbreak of internal feuding was all too real, and not a media concoction. An aide denied her comments were aimed at Ms Harman but few doubted that Labour's deputy leader was indeed the target.

Ms Harman last night denied she was positioning herself to succeed Gordon Brown after the election, saying there was no "shred of truth" in the reports. "What I am doing, I'm determined to support Gordon as the Prime Minister of this country," she said.

Jack Straw meanwhile emerged as yet another potential successor when a new poll named him the public's choice for Labour leader. The Justice Secretary received four times more support than Ms Harman.

Mr Straw polled 19 per cent in the PoliticsHome.com survey, four points above second-placed Foreign Secretary David Miliband, and 10 points ahead of Health Secretary Alan Johnson. Deputy leader Ms Harman managed only five per cent.

The in-fighting is being seen as evidence that ministers are resigned to defeat at the next election.

Leading Left-winger Jon Cruddas, the Dagenham MP, strongly defended Ms Harman's right to "develop a policy agenda of her own".

Today's poll found few possible contenders register at all with the public. Schools Secretary Ed Balls is backed by four per cent and Mr Cruddas by two per cent. Younger Cabinet ministers such as Ed Miliband, James Purnell and Andy Burnham all fail to garner more than one per cent support.

PoliticsHome.com interviewed 924 adults. The results are weighted by party identity to reflect the United Kingdom.