Clarke urges Miliband to stand for PM while giving Brown scant support

Charles Clarke has become the first senior Labour figure to call explicitly for David Miliband to stand against Gordon Brown for 10 Downing Street.

The former home secretary spoke out as pressure mounts on the Environment Secretary to intervene to prevent a "coronation" for the Chancellor after Tony Blair steps down.

Related articles

• Charles Clarke, former Home Secretary: You ask the questions

Mr Miliband has consistently ruled out opposing Mr Brown, but Blairites believe he can be persuaded and argue that several serving and former cabinet ministers would back him. Mr Clarke breaks cover in "You Ask the Questions' in today's Independent and implies he would support Mr Miliband.

Asked whether he would like the Environment Secretary to step forward, he replies: "Yes, I think that he'd be a good candidate and a good prime minister. Unlike [the Tory leader] David Cameron, he's got good ministerial experience in a tough, spending department."

He sidesteps an opportunity to endorse Mr Brown as the next Prime Minister, telling a questioner: "I'll take that decision when we have a leadership election."

The former home secretary raises doubt over the Chancellor's promise to appoint a cabinet of "all the talents" if he becomes Prime Minister. Mr Clarke says: "I think that he'd need to and should try to do so. But it's easier said than done."

And he even refuses to rule out standing himself in the contest expected in three months' time. He says his candidacy is "unlikely but not impossible".

Mr Clarke and Alan Milburn, the former health secretary, launched a website last month calling for debate about Labour's future policies.

They insisted their move was not aimed at blocking Mr Brown - and Mr Clarke today repeats the denial - but has been widely interpreted as an attempt to flush out a heavyweight challenger to the Chancellor.

The other two declared candidates, left-wingers John McDonnell and Michael Meacher, are likely to struggle to get the support of the 44 other MPs necessary to get on the ballot paper.

Mr Clarke, who says he would like to return to government, says he believes history will judge Mr Blair as "a great prime minister who changed this country for the better, but failed to make the most of his opportunities".

He protests that Mr Blair has been mistaken in not pursuing "consistent and coherent programmes of reform in the public sector" and in failing to work more closely with the European Union. And he agrees that the Government has been "too timid" in introducing green taxes to combat global warming.

Mr Clarke also takes a swipe at his successor, John Reid, for saying parts of the Home Office are not fit for purpose. "I always thought that the 'not fit for purpose' phrase demoralised and demotivated and was certainly not true for the whole department, where some bits are absolutely excellent, others aren't up to standard," he says.

"Many changes in personnel and organisation were in the pipeline when I left and are having positive effects now," he says.

Odds on next permanent leader of the Labour party

1/12: Gordon Brown
12/1: David Miliband
14/1: John Reid
16/1: Alan Milburn
33/1: Peter Hain
33/1: Hilary Benn
33/1: Charles Clarke
50/1: Margaret Beckett
50/1: Jack Straw
50/1: John Prescott
20/1: Des Browne
50/1: Ed Balls

SOURCE: WILLIAM HILL