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Labour v Tory - real divide in British politics

I didn't see the BBC news last night, but the normally reliable and well informed Nick Robinson said that I and 5 other members of the Cabinet were involved in some sort of plot against the Prime Minister. This is utter rubbish, and if the BBC had bothered to contact me about it I would have told them so. In fact, if they had bothered to contact themselves they would have known so. I gave an interview to the BBC in Scotland at 2pm yesterday where I made clear any talk of plots and secret ballots was a total distraction from the focus we all need to have on protecting jobs and assisting the recovery. This is particularly the case in Scotland where the SNP government is simply not doing enough.

Yesterday Patricia Hewitt and Geoff Hoon took it upon themselves to indulge in the total distraction of demanding a vote on the Prime Minister's future. It was a ludicrous thing to do, and the response from the vast majority of Labour MPs has confirmed that view. Our number one priority as Labour politicians should be working hard to get Scotland and Britain out of the recession, so the unemployed can get back to work. As I made clear in television, radio and newspaper interviews yesterday, the political divide in Britain is between Labour and Tory, and shouldn't be Labour versus Labour. We should focus our political attention on David Cameron's Tories, who are less popular today in Scotland than Mrs Thatcher ever was. Yesterday's tiny plot was wrong, as was the BBC reporting of it - neither should have happened.