Flint comes out the shadows
By politics.co.uk staff
Caroline Flint, former Europe minister, has publicly explained why she left government last week with a closing salvo about the prime minister.
Ms Flint quit on Friday, publishing a letter in which she claimed Gordon Brown treated her like “female window dressing”.
But many parliamentary observers said the move was probably triggered by her not being offered a job.
Today she offered a different interpretation, saying she was forced to leave because Mr Brown did not trust her.
“I didn’t feel Gordon Brown had full confidence in my loyalty,” she told GMTV.
“I don’t want to go into the detail, but what I can say is individuals’ names were mentioned to me who seemed to be part of a plot against the prime minister and my loyalty was questioned.
“And I sort of felt at that point that to continue, without confidence, was a difficult thing to do.”
But Downing Street poured cold water on her statements this morning.
“This is not a version of events that we would recognise,” the prime minister’s spokesman said.
he went on to stress that Ms Flint had been offered a promotion and the opportunity to attend all Cabinet meetings.
In the frantic atmosphere of last week, her name had been linked with Jacqui Smith, former home secretary, Hazel Blears, former communities secretary, and Margaret Beckett – making her part of the WAG (women against Gordon) group.
Today, she put this down to “negative briefings” from Downing Street.
