Hazel Blears apologised yesterday for the timing of her Cabinet walkout as she faced a battle to hang on to her seat.
The former communities secretary admitted she had been wrong to quit on the eve of crucial elections, as it emerged that activists in Salford in Manchester will attempt to deselect her next week.
In her first interview since the dramatic departure last week, Ms Blears tried to defuse anger by insisting that the move was not part of a plot to oust the prime minister. She said her position became untenable after Mr Brown described her failure to pay capital gains tax on the sale of a second home as “totally unacceptable”.
She received backing from senior figures in her constituency association in the wake of the revelations.
However, Labour sources at Westminster yesterday confirmed that a deselection motion will be considered at a meeting of activists in Salford next Thursday.
In an interview with the Manchester Evening News, the Salford MP said she had not spoken to Cabinet colleagues, including James Purnell who quit the following day, about her plan to resign.
Ms Blears said she now realised she should not have walked out the day before the European and local elections.
“I genuinely thought I could go without it sparking off this huge firestorm. In hindsight that judgment was wrong. I should have waited until after the election. The effect on the party is something I will live with forever.”
Ms Blears ruled out a return to the government, despite Mr Brown’s professed hope that she would do so