Former British communities secretary Hazel Blears said today she regretted the timing of her resignation last week on the eve of European and local elections in which Labour suffered a rout.
"The effect on the party just before the elections is something that I will regret forever," Ms Blears said in an interview with the
Manchester Evening News.
She was one of six ministers to resign from the cabinet last week amid unrest that at one pointed threatened prime minister Gordon Brown's position.
Labour lost control of four councils it was defending in the local elections and came third in the European elections with just over 15 per cent of the vote. However, Brown's position is safe after a backbench revolt came to nothing.
Ms Blears also apologised after criticising a YouTube appearance by Mr Brown in a newspaper article.
"It was thoughtless and it was hurtful and I apologised straightaway afterwards to him for it," she said.
Ms Blears also said she had been wrong to wear a broach saying "Rock the boat" on the day she quit.
"It was a stupid thing to do, in retrospect," she said, blaming her reaction on media pressure on her and her family for her expense claims. Ms Blears agreed to pay more than £13,000 in tax on the sale of a property after newspaper reports about her expenses.
Reuters