Former deputy prime minister John Prescott has taken a swipe at Labour's deputy leader Harriet Harman after she said the party should never again have a men-only leadership team.
Equalities minister Ms Harman used a newspaper interview to say that, in future, Labour's leader and deputy leader should be made up of one man and one woman, as "men cannot be left to run things on their own".
But Mr Prescott accused her of distracting attention from Labour's efforts to restore its electoral fortunes by reviving the issue of the leadership.
And in a barely veiled attack on Ms Harman's performance as deputy leader, he said it was particularly crucial to make the case for a fourth Labour term now, "after a disastrous June election campaign you were supposed to be running, and with a poll today saying we're 24% behind the Tories in the key marginals that you're supposed to be in charge of campaigning in".
Ms Harman told the Sunday Times: "I don't agree with all-male leaderships. Men cannot be left to run things on their own. I think it's a thoroughly bad thing to have a men-only leadership."
She added: "Actually, I don't ever think there will be a men-only team of leadership in the Labour Party again. People would look at it and say, 'What? Are there no women in the party to be part of the leadership? Do men want to do it all themselves?'"
Writing on his blog, Mr Prescott said he read her comments "with real sadness" and told her to "stop complaining and get campaigning".
"Quotes like this just raise leadership issues once again just at a time when we should all be pulling together and defending our record," said Mr Prescott. "Why take away from the party the right to choose its leaders on the basis of ability? You can't dictate equality in leadership elections. You must let the party decide.
"I was beaten fair and square in the 1992 deputy leadership election by Margaret Beckett. You yourself beat four men to become deputy leader in 2007. In theory you were elected on merit, not your gender.
"The system works and I think we should keep it that way."
