The only thing you can say about Hazel Blears is that she jumped before she was pushed.

She was said on the Six O’Clock News last night to have timed her resignation in an attempt to cause as much damage to Gordon Brown as possible. To my mind it has done the opposite. It reveals her as petty, mean-minded and childish.

The fact that she wore a badge which said “Rocking The Boat” to her resignation meeting with Brown only adds to that effect. To me it appeared to be a reference to the recent film about the pirate radio stations of the 1960s rather than to a shipwreck. A rather juvenile gesture at best, and totally undignified.

The government is well rid of such playground antics.