This is a Blairite declaration of war

Hazel Blears has chosen the eve of the local election to let it be known that she is quitting the Cabinet. It is an extraordinary act of disloyalty and agression.

Leave aside the fact that she was probably going to get the boot anyway. You just don’t behave towards a Prime Minister like this.

I just spoke to one of Hazel’s closest political friends, an MP, who said “Good for her! One more to go! The big one!” – meaning Gordon. I spoke to a Brownite minister who called this a “pigmy plot” and claimed no serious big beasts in the cabinet were ready to pile in behind her… but who knows?

Last night a No.10 aide suggested that the PM wanted to mount his reshuffle not Friday – though the diary had been cleared for Friday – but Monday (partly because the PM was going to be in France for D-Day commemorations on Saturday).

Now those plans are thrown into doubt… the Prime Minister has to get a grip of the situation asap and No.10 will not be a happy place right now.