AN APOLOGETIC Hazel Blears has revealed three major regrets - including her 'cruel' YouTube joke against Gordon Brown.
The Salford MP wished she had not worn a brooch saying 'rocking the boat' the day after her shock decision to quit the Cabinet looked set to end the prime minister's reign.
And she bitterly regretted the timing of her resignation, on the eve of European elections, that saw Labour's vote dip under 16 per cent for the first time in nearly 100 years.
In an interview with the M.E.N., Ms Blears - who at times seemed close to tears - said she was not part of an anti-Brown plot and had not wished to destabilise him.
But she added: "I've thought long and hard and I have a number of regrets."
Ms Blears said her decision to write in a newspaper column `YouTube if you want to' - as Mr Brown was being pilloried for an appearance on the video-sharing website - was `thoughtless and quite cruel'.
She said Mr Brown accepted her immediate apology. "I thought it was clever - it was too clever by half," she said. "It was flippant and I only realised later how hurtful it was."
Ms Blears quit as communities secretary a day after Home Secretary Jacqui Smith and north west minister Beverley Hughes said they were standing down. She was then followed by Stalybridge and Hyde MP James Purnell, who quit as work and pensions secretary.
Ms Blears had already looked set for the chop in a reshuffle over the expenses row. She handed a cheque for more than £13,000 to the taxman when it emerged she had avoided capital gains tax on the sale of her London flat because it had been registered as her primary residence - but at the same time it was registered as her second home for parliamentary purposes.
She admitted she was shocked when Mr Brown publicly described her actions as unacceptable. "At that moment everything became much more difficult," she said. "I had come to the view it was not tenable to remain and that I should go back to bread-and-butter basics in Salford.
"I only talked about it with colleagues who are friends and not with other Cabinet ministers.
"There was no plot. I had no idea James [Purnell] was going.
"I genuinely thought I could go without it sparking off this huge firestorm. In hindsight that judgement was wrong. I should have waited until after the election. The effect on the party is something I will live with for ever.
"I am not the person the national media has painted me. I had not done many of the things that had been alleged against me."
Ms Blears said Mr Brown had sent a `very generous' letter after her resignation.
"He said he wanted me back in government," she added.
Ms Blears was later pictured arriving in Manchester with the `rocking the boat' brooch - seen as a coded message to Mr Brown. But the MP said: "It was a brooch my husband had given me. I'd had four weeks of intense media pressure, the like of which I have never known, not just on me but on my husband, my dad, my family.
"At that point I'd had enough. It was a stupid thing to do but I think it was just trying to put a brave face on - not going out cowed on the basis of expenses claims that genuinely are not true."
Ms Blears rejected claims by former Europe Minister Caroline Flint that women were `window-dressing' in the Cabinet.
"I don't recognise that," she said. "I don't think it is `window-dressing' and I don't think it is Gordon Brown. It is inevitable in politics that you make really deep friendships. I was counter-terrorism minister and that is not window-dressing. But we do need more women at every level."
Ms Blears said she intended to throw herself back into local campaigns - including keeping pubs open and fighting for more jobs and investment in Salford. "I am not going to be back in government," she added.
She said she hoped there would be no attempts to deselect her at a meeting of her Constituency Labour Party later this month.
"What I do welcome is the chance to talk to the party and go through everything that has happened and acknowledge my mistakes," she said.
Ms Blears also revealed she has never considered stepping down as a constituency MP.
"What Salford needs is an MP who is going to be fighting for them, 100 per cent," she said. "I am someone who knows how the system works and will fight to get investment into the city."
Click on our video player (right) to see extracts of the interview.
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Sorry - I'm not reaing any more - and I'm definitely not watching the video!
Too late Hazel. I have just read your interview for the Salford Advertiser and it just looks like damage limitation to me!! But the damage has already been done. You showed your true colours and they definitely are not for the people of Salford.
Did your advisers tell you to do that so that you can try and fool the electorate again? My sick buckets are soooo full now.
Please just resign Hazel.
I don't think she regrets anything, she's just attention seeking.
Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn.
Life can be hard for us all. It is about learning to engage the brain before putting the mouth into gear, I should know I done myself. Shame on me. But I wouldn't do it to Gordon because he tries his best and folk you would think would stand behind him have let him down which is a shame. Onwards and Upwards
The plot did'nt work, she is in the wilderness, that is what she is sorry about.
"Regreeeeets, I've had a few, but may I say, toooo many to mention"!! Hazel 'Frank' Blears, go awaaaaaay!
I note that any apologies proffered do not relate to her abuse of public funds. Self-serving and egotistical, Hazel Blears is typical of a majority of MPs, displaying all the prerequisites that should indicate to voters that she not fit to ever be allowed anywhere near parliament again.
Even the "gesture" of repayment of £13332.00 capital gains tax she dodged is a cynical ploy, since the Inland Revenue have no idea what to do with it and in time it is likely that she will get it back.
Genuinely, GENUINELY, genuinely! I am sick to the back teeth of this bluffing, showboating, excuse making woman.
She was exploiting a rotten system. You work in "Public service" not "Self service" - Caught with her fingers in the cookie jar.
You are the weakest link - goodbye!
No actually Hazel, you forgot to mention your 4th REGRET, in that your actions were a cold callous calculated attempt at destabilizing Gordon Browns position,so that you could inflict maximum damage and hopefully try and get back into some form of new Cabinet position under a new leader. Well Miss Blears its failed and you are effectively out in the cold, no chance of a peerage, no chance of switching to a safer seat and certainly NO CHANCE OF SERVING ANOTHER TERM REPRESENTING THE HONEST DECENT PEOPLE OF SALFORD. Thats what happens when you forget what your role of a MP is all about, you drown in your own self indulgence and exorbitant expense claims.....
Come off it MEN, it wasn't that bad.
3 regretsis enough to prove to me shes still back at UNI,hopefully it will hit home when her income is reduced and realise what a priviledge position she was in.One good thing shes helping to get rid of a stagnant party
Who cares what Blears thinks?
Hopefully the good people of Salford will get rid her at the next election.
I like the fact that she doesn't regret dodging the capital gains tax. Yes I know she waved a cheque around for £13k (how many other people in the whole of Manchester can do that - I'm doing well for myself but I still haven''t got 13 grand lying around!) but as has been stated on here, getting HMRC to accept the payment is a whole other bureaucracy.
There is something about this woman that leaves a bad taste in my mouth, I can not quite put my finger on what exactly it is about Hazel Blears, call it womans intution, a gut feeling that 'this' particular woman is now attempting to go all out in a bid to receive 'good media attention' after all these weeks of bad press.
Too late was the cry.......
Regret, dont u mean oh my god it didn't go to plan Gordon is still in Power and me, Fat Jacqui, Pinnuchio Purnell, & the other bunch of sad losers are now attempting to reinvent themselves. Blears really does think she is God, I reckon if she believes in reincarantion she will actually come back as herself or Tony Blair
I have had another think and Mrs Blears has been on auto pilot and become robotic for a long time. She has rested and her faculties are coming back.
It doesn't matter if you are a road sweeper or the king of Timbuktu it's about being planted firmly on the ground, and that is what people appreciate. Keep it Real.
In an exclusive interview with the MEN, the Salford MP said she had three main regrets:
poking fun at Gordon Brown for posting a video on YouTube
timing her resignation for the day before Euro and local elections
wearing a brooch which read 'Rocking the boat' on the day she quit
WELL DONE HAZEL - ADMITTING THAT YOU ARE A REAL LIFE PRAT MAKES THE REST OF FEEL GOOD KNOWING WE WERE RIGHT ABOUT YOU !! NOW GO MISSING - OH SORRY YOU HAVE !!
when will criminal charges be be pressed against these parasites
red rob
She only regrets being caught out! On the dole,Blears. Animal Farm didn't work out for you? Mind you,she has probably a large stash to make sure she never needs to works again! Make a great lollipop lady if she is short of money or needs a vocation that will REALLY help the people of Salford!
Put it all in your memoirs Hazel,that'll give us the opportunity to ignore you through the medium of Fictional Literature.
creep,creep.grovel,grovel,Now of you only stood for the people in Salford who lost their home through you,like you are groveling then they might still have their homes.Poor people lost their homes through compulsary purchase and then sold on to developers.
The Ginger Whinger should be nominated for the next oscars.What a performance,fair had me in tears.Now if you would only reply to the 15 emails I have sent and dozens off other people concerning Salford Achives,which she has not even had the decency to acknowledge.
AM I Bovvered... No.
Bye Bye Blears
Waste of space.