Charles Clarke slams Blair and Reid

11.51.13am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 27th Jun 2006

Charles Clarke

Tony Blair may not be able to recover his authority and leadership after recent damaging events, former Home Secretary Charles Clarke has said he also said his successor John Reid, was wrong to say the Home Office was "not fit for purpose". . C

Charles Clarke broke two months of political silence last night to unleash a calculated attack on the policies and style adopted by John Reid since taking over the Home Office after his own removal as home secretary in May. Clarke was sacked as home secretary in May after it emerged that 1,023 foreign prisoners were released from UK prisons without being considered for deportation.

Clarke told BBC Radio 4's On The Ropes he had previously thought Mr Blair should say he would quit in late 2008. That was still "pretty much" his view but he voiced his doubts. "The best option would be for Tony to recover that leadership and authority and direction and to carry that through over a period of time, in my view," said Mr Clarke. Whether he is able to do that - because he has been damaged by recent events - whether he wants to do that, is not a matter for me, really. I simply observe there are a lot of doubts about it and I share some of those, that's true. But I still think that is the best way to go forward."

Clarke was asked if he agreed with Mr Reid's assessment that the Home Office was "not fit for purpose". He replied: "No, I didn't - I thought that was absolutely not the case... I think John was wrong to say that." Commenting on the proposed introduction of a Megan's Law and the media hype surrounding it, Clarke said "I don't think that's the right thing to do ... The home secretary of the day should not simply be running on the band wagon of some particular media campaign,"