Straw raises stakes in deputy leadership battle

13 April 2012

Jack Straw has raised the stakes in the battle to be Labour's next deputy leader by billing himself as the man to stamp out spin and restore trust in politics.

The Leader of the Commons will bill himself as the best link man between the future leader and the Labour Party at large.

Allies say he will not formally declare that he wants the job until John Prescott formally signals that he will stand down.

But in an article for the New Statesman magazine he today lays out his credentials, calling for the end of spin and 'the return of politics as a contact sport'.

Mr Straw launches an outspoken attack on the infighting which erupted over Tony Blair's future last week.

And in words designed to appeal to grassroots Labour members he says the party should embrace old style pavement politics, interacting with voters on the doorstep and at public meetings.

He says that former Labour grandees would be 'shocked that a government which has dealt so well with huge challenges is caught up in a squall, not over policy, but over exactly when the most successful Labour prime minister in history stands down.'

He claims they 'would have been appalled that at the events of the last two weeks and the possibility that the party's capacity for bloodletting might still be unchecked when there remain so many wrongs for us to right in the nation and beyond.'

He says: 'We must work for a more authentic, direct, local and visible approach to politics and a reduction in some of the slicker campaigning techniques that have come to dominate the way we do out politics.

'It is no accident that trust levels shoot up when a politician is known and active in the local community. And they plunge when there is a sense that they are speaking from a script.'

Allies say Mr Straw has spoken regularly to Gordon Brown over the last six months and views him as by far the best man for the leadership.

But while his major rivals, Education Secretary Alan Johnson and Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain are battling for the support of cabinet colleagues and the unions, Mr Straw will seek to appeal to ordinary grassroots members and backbench MPs, with whom he has a great deal of contact in his job as Leader of the Commons.

A close ally said: 'He sees himself not as a New Labourite or an Old Labourite but as a Labourite. He has been a solid party man for 30 years. That counts for a lot. He will try to pitch himself as a deputy who has no ambitions to be leader. He can act as a link man between the leadership and the party.'

Mr Straw is also seeking to distance himself from his rivals by spelling out his credentials as someone who has more experience at a higher levels of Government, having held two of the great offices of state for nine years.

His CV includes spells as Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary, eclipsing Mr Hain's experience as Northern Ireland and Welsh Secretary or Mr Johnson's time at the department of education and the DTI.

Mr Straw is also said to be dismissive of his rivals decision to jump the gun. A close friend said: 'Jack takes the rarther traditonal view that you should not openly campaign for a job before it becomes available'.

Mr Johnson declared his interest in replacing Mr Prescott in June and Mr Hain announced he would run on Tuesday.

Some hope that John Prescott will announce his retirement as eartly as the party conference later this month to spark a deputy leadership election where Labour could debate its futurewhile taking the attention away from the question of when Tony Blair will stand down.

One cabinet minister said yesterday: 'It would be helpful if John made an emotional speech at conference and said he is going. It would be cathartic. It would allow the arguments but not be fatal.'

Mr Straw wants to be ready. He is to speak at four fringe meetings at the conference in Manchester, spelling out his vision of the future of the party.

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