Ex-minister takes swipe at Brown

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Ex-home secretary Charles Clarke suggested the Prime Minister had failed to support his best people and described his appointment of Lord Malloch Brown to the Foreign Office as "foolish".

In his first public criticism since Mr Brown took over, Mr Clarke also claimed many MPs had been "appalled" by the premier's controversial pledge of "British jobs for British workers".

Mr Clarke was a leading minister under Tony Blair until he was fired in May 2006 in the wake of the released foreign prisoners scandal.

He was suspected of promoting the idea of a rival candidate for the Labour leadership this year but stopped short of open criticism of Mr Brown.

"I think the appointment of Malloch Brown was foolish," Mr Clarke told The Guardian. "Getting him making the statement on national security rather than the home secretary was foolish. Gordon should have let Jacqui (Smith) do that."

He added: "Tony would always support his key people. Gordon should do that with his people."

A leading Blairite, Mr Clarke also said the amount of loyalty shown to the Prime Minister now was in contrast to that displayed by Mr Brown towards his predecessor. He added: "It is staggering given his disloyalty to Tony."

Mr Clarke added that there would have been "massive controversy" in the Labour Party in previous decades over the "British jobs for British workers" slogan.

But he went on: "Ask the MPs here (in Westminster) and there are a large number who are appalled but are loyal to the leader and haven't spoken out about it."