Blairite secretary of state for Communities and Local Government, Hazel Blears, would be better advised spending more time on her departmental responsibilities and less grabbing headlines that appear to undermine Labour's Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
There are lots of reasons why Labour has lost electoral support. But one, that is directly under Blears' control, is social housing for rent. A shortage of social housing is widely seen as one of the factors feeding xenophobia and the rise of the BNP. Labour's shameful opposition to council housing ownership (now being reversed) is part of the wretched legacy from Blair's political idol, Tony Blair.
At Labour's last NEC meeting, I asked if events highlighting Labour's efforts to keep a roof over people's heads as the recession bites could be given greater prominence in the ministerial media grid. Now that senior cabinet figures are rallying to support Labour's leader, perhaps Blears can be reminded to start delivering on social (particularly council) housing with some high profile, headline catching media opportunities, preferably before the 4 June elections. This would be a more effective way of persuading the electorate that Labour under Brown has learned from its mistakes under Blair.
Update 1609: And Tony agrees with me.