Cruddas: Blears colludes with Tories

Jon Cruddas has accused deputy leadership rival Hazel Blears of colluding with the Conservatives by characterising his political vision as a "lurch to the left".

In an interview with ePolitix.com, Cruddas attacked the Labour chairman for offering "more of the same" in terms of policy and style.

And he said her view "colludes with the Conservative analysis" and would lead to electoral defeat for Labour.

"The Tories want to paint us as lurching to the left, some of the Tory press have actually described it as a lurch to the left," he said.

"Indeed some of the candidates in this deputy leadership have described me as lurching to the left. I'm not lurching anywhere, I've always been in the same place."

Asked whether he was talking about Blears when referring to collusion with the Conservatives, Cruddas said: "If the cap fits. There was quite a few contributions which describe me as some sort of hangover from the 1980s or some sort of lurcher or someone wanting to go backwards.

"That's not a description I would acknowledge but it's part of a debate that we need to have.

"My general approach to this is that more of the same will not do and I do advocate quite radical change. Unashamedly I do because I think the stakes are very high for us and I think Gordon Brown is beginning to change."

Describing the dangers of the Blairite approach to policy, Cruddas warned of "a real trap we could fall into where elements of our own party are comfortable with more of the same".

"That is the real comfort zone in carrying on as we've been doing things and they collude with the Conservative analysis of trying to close down debate in the Labour Party and describing it simplistically as a lurch to the left," he told ePolitix.com.

"The real problem with that is we fall into the Tory trap because we do more of the same, because then at the next election they can present themselves as the change."

Cruddas also said he was "quietly optimistic" that the party would change direction under Gordon Brown.

"I'm not here to make friends. This is an exercise in rebuilding a party and challenging some of the reasons why we got to where we are," he said.

"Gordon Brown is not going to have a formal challenge but he should be challenged around some of the policy issues and some of the party organisational issues that we need to confront.

"The evidence I get in terms of listening to what he's saying - for example some of the ideas on party reform that he's developed over the past few days - very much chime with what we've been saying for months.

"So actually I think he's heading in the right direction."