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Exclusive: No regrets, says Flint, over blast at Brown
CAROLINE Flint, the Minister who dramatically quit on Cabinet reshuffle day, accusing Gordon Brown of treating women as "window dressing", last night declared she had no regrets about her outburst.
In her first major newspaper interview since quitting the Government last month, the Don Valley MP admits she has "always been pretty direct" and angrily condemns those who questioned her loyalty following rumours that she had been plotting against the Prime Minister.
She reveals she gave an interview backing Mr Brown the day before the reshuffle after intense pressure from Downing Street to "kill" the rumours – which she insists were untrue – but says she changed her mind over staying on when he rang to ask her to continue as Europe Minister because, "I really just felt I didn't have his full confidence".
Ms Flint, who has kept a low profile at Westminster since her departure and has not spoken to Mr Brown, insists Parliament remains too much of a "gentleman's club" and says it is "perplexing" there are more women politicians in Pakistan than in this country.
She welcomes the Prime Minister's pledge at a meeting with his own MPs to be more inclusive but while careful to avoid re-igniting their clash her backing for him seems lukewarm, although she says she "sees no other scenario at the moment" than his leading Labour into the next election.
She also admits it will be "a challenge" for Labour to win the next election, says Ministers need to make sure initiatives aimed at beating the recession are implemented rather than remaining empty soundbites and warns the Government needs to "work harder" at communicating with voters.
While Communities Secretary Hazel Blears recently admitted she regretted the timing of her resignation – the day before polling for local and European elections – and wearing a "Rocking the Boat" badge, Ms Flint said: "I stand by what I said. No, I don't have any regrets.
"For me, it was a personal decision that if I didn't feel I had the 100 per cent confidence of the Prime Minister then I didn't feel able to carry on being a Minister. Now for me, as always, the cornerstone of everything I do is being a constituency MP."
She defended the stinging resignation letter which also accused Mr Brown of operating a two-tier Cabinet and undermining her loyalty, saying: "I think I've always been pretty direct and I think the points I made in that letter in some respects – and points other colleagues who've resigned from Government have made – the Prime Minister seems to have taken some of those points on board.
"I understand that the first meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party after that (reshuffle] weekend the Prime Minister said we recognise there were some weaknesses and the Government needs to be more inclusive and that's good. My job now is to get on with doing the job of being an MP and I'll do whatever I can over the next year to help the Government deliver what it needs to."
She says her local party has been "fantastic" and "incredibly supportive" and says life "isn't all about being a Minister".
Asked whether she thinks Gordon Brown will lead Labour into the next election, she said: "I don't know. Gordon is the Prime Minister, he's the leader. We've got to focus on what is an ever increasingly short amount of time before the next General Election and there's been a lot of speculation around.
"I hope we can knuckle down to the job in hand now which is focusing on delivering our policies and getting those right and keeping in touch with the electorate.
"I think Gordon will be leading us into the election. I see no other scenario at the moment and we should just get on with the job of supporting him."
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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