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Harriet Harman faced calls to be sacked as party chairman today as John Prescott furiously blamed her for botching Labour's election campaign and "lacking the will to fight".
He said: "I've fought 11 general elections and let me tell you, if we fight the next one like this campaign, we'll be out for a generation. It seems the people responsible were resigned to defeat and were prepared to use the excuse that we had no money."
The outburst by the former deputy prime minister raised a question mark over Ms Harman's ability to continue juggling four party and government jobs, including Labour chair.
Mr Prescott said he did better on his battlebus than she managed from party HQ. "The people responsible for this non-campaign were Harriet Harman, Caroline Flint, Douglas Alexander and yes, our former Communities Secretary Hazel Blears," Mr Prescott wrote on his blog.
He pointed out his own Prescott Express Battle Bus had travelled 1,000 miles across the North to rally support in 12 towns and eight counties in four days - meeting the £2,500 cost from small donations. "I discovered money wasn't the main problem. It was the lack of support, direction and strategy from the centre," he added.
Ms Harman is in charge of Labour's campaign machinery as well as Commons leader, Equalities minister and deputy Labour leader.
Mr Alexander is the party's campaign co-ordinator, ensuring the party works together to deliver results. Europe Minister Ms Flint and Ms Blears were responsible for the European and local government policies, respectively.
Reader views (2)
Prescott is demonstrating a high degree of optimism, by stating Labour will be out for a generation. For the damage they have done to this country, no less than five generations would hardly be a long enough period of servitude.
- Bingham Macnamara, lymington, hampshire
The variety of ways in which Labour has undermined itself and destroyed its own mandate is astonishing. Is there a prize for creative self-destruction?
- Bloke, London
