Handbags at dawn among Labour women

The battle for the deputy leadership of the Labour Party has not so far been notable for moments of high excitement. But that all changed yesterday as a classic political spat unfolded which was instantaneously dubbed "handbags at dawn".

It began with a complaint by Harriet Harman, the minister for Justice, that Britain was in danger of becoming a divided society in which many people struggle to make ends meet, while others "spend £10,000 on a handbag".

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Hazel Blears, the diminutive but combative Labour Party chairman, who was brought up in working-class Salford, disagreed. "I don't think it is the job of politicians to tell people what they should spend their money on," she said. "Labour represents the poor and less well-off but it cannot only be a party for them."

An unapologetic Blairite, Ms Blears supplemented her defence of expensive handbags with a critique of flared trousers. Comments like that made by Ms Harman, she asserted, risked taking Labour back to the Life on Mars Britain of the 1970s, when socialism was red in tooth and claw and 18 years of Tory rule just around the corner. "We can go back to the views of the Seventies and get out our flares, but let's not kid ourselves that is where the rest of the British people are," she said.

An instant handbag debate was ignited. Under questioning, Ms Harman saidshe had never spent more than £50 on a handbag. Ms Blears happily confessed to a black leather Orla Kiely, which had cost "around" £250. Tessa Jowell, the Culture Secretary, has been photographed carrying a £750 Chloe bag.

There is a serious point to the serial handbagging. As Gordon Brown prepares to enter No 10, the departure of Mr Blair is proving the trigger for the most open debate for years about Labour's commitment to social equality. A growing number of internal critics now believe that 10 years of a Labour government have not sufficiently served to close the gap between rich and poor. A recent report by the centre-left think tank, Compass, said Labour had allowed the wealth gap to grow wider than ever.

Ms Harman will tonight call for a royal commission on the growing gap. She will say the commission should consider the pattern of inequalities in income and wealth between different regions, ethnic communities and genders. "I think inequality is an example of something we are concerned about as a party," she said. "We need cohesive communities. You cannot have equality without equality of opportunity. There is a growing gap between those at the top and those at the bottom."

Redistribution of wealth has been the issue Tony Blair has tried to dodge. He ruled out the Old Labour policies of punitive taxes on the rich before he came to power, telling the CBI conference on 13 November 1995, two years before Labour won power: "Penal rates of taxation do not make economic or political sense. They are gone for good."

Twelve years later, the equality agenda has returned with a vengeance, just as Mr Blair prepares to stand down. And long after Margaret Thatcher's disappearance from public life, a handbag (albeit a considerably more expensive one) is back at the centre of the political stage.

'Extremes of wealth will not make society peaceful'

BY HARRIET HARMAN MP

The party must continue its concern with those at the bottom but we must move on to being concerned about the gap between rich and poor. We must beware the false choice between supporting equality of opportunity and tackling inequality. Unless you tackle inequality, the goal of equality of opportunity is unreachable. Inequality conflicts with ideals of liberty, social solidarity and equal and common citizenship. Meritocracy and social mobility are important but they have limits. Even if the "winners" got there on their merits we would still have to ask why the prizes they take are sometimes so excessive. We cannot have peaceful communities in society divided by extremes of wealth.

'Aspiration is the core value of working families'

BY HAZEL BLEARS MP

I believe in social justice. The best way to achieve it is for Labour to stay on the side of hard-working people who want to be successful. Aspiration is the core value of working families. People want to get on and do well. They want to own their own home, and to see their children do better than they did. This is the spirit that New Labour tapped into in the 1990s. Any whiff of the politics of envy or a government which stipulates what you can spend your money on and these families will go over to the Tories. There must be no caps on aspiration.

So if someone wants to spend their hard-earned cash on a new pair of shoes, or a mini break, or even a handbag then the Government should not be telling them they can't.