Clarke enters leadership debate

Analysis
By Nick Assinder
Political correspondent, BBC News website

On their own, the remarks by Charles Clarke might not have caused too much of a political stir and been written off as the musings of a bitter, sacked minister.

Clarke warned of division

But, as ever, timing is everything and the fact he has delivered his warning over the dangers of in-fighting over the party leadership in the run up to the annual Labour conference gives added edge to his intervention.

His comments feed directly in to the growing sense that the Manchester rally in just over three weeks' time needs to provide some sort of turning point for the party and government and , most crucially, the prime minister.

In other words, it should be the point at which Tony Blair ends the speculation of his retirement date and the government settles its future direction.

Mr Clarke does not address the prime minister's future directly, but his New Statesman article does speak about the need for clear and unambiguous leadership and unity.

His opening comments in particular will strike a real chord with many party members looking forward to the conference.

Avoid disaster

"The 1981 Labour conference was the most acrimonious in recent history. The Healey-Benn-Silkin deputy leadership contest dominated the months before the conference, led to enduring bitterness and division after, and paved the way for a disastrous election defeat two years later. Nineteen eighty-three was the party's lowest point," he said.

Blair under conference pressure

The message could not be clearer. All the current speculation and chatter over the Labour leadership is threatening a re-run of that sort of divisiveness and failure.

And the suggestion must be that the only way to end it and avoid future disaster is to have some clarity from Mr Blair.

But Mr Clarke goes further with a direct attack on both Mr Blair and Gordon Brown over the way they create policy.

"Major policy issues, such as the place of nuclear energy in the drive to energy sustainability and the value to our overall security strategy of replacing Trident, need serious consideration.

"They cannot simply be dealt with as an aside at the CBI's annual dinner or a half-sentence at the Guildhall," he added - a direct reference to those policy statements by Mr Blair and Mr Brown respectively.

Major player

He goes further, with a detailed examination of where things are going wrong for the government - specifically the "fault lines" that have opened up between it and large numbers of those who supported it in 1997 - and the issues he believes need to be grasped.

Brown also criticised by Clarke

Indeed, his analysis could even be read as a leadership manifesto of his own.

That may or may not be his intention, but it certainly proves he intends to be a major player in the next phase of the Labour government rather than simply languishing on the backbenches to which, he believes, he was prematurely and unfairly exiled by Mr Blair.

For his part, the prime minister has given no sign whatsoever that he intends to clarify his position in Manchester, undoubtedly fearing that the moment he did so his authority would evaporate and he may as well go straight away.

But he must also be considering the consequences of refusing to offer clarity.

Would that spark the sort of disastrous divisions many are now warning of, could it even force his rivals to move against him, or do those wanting him to go sooner rather than later simply lack the stomach to strike?

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