Labour is preparing to contact tens of thousands of former members who left under Tony Blair to invite them to rejoin the party now that he is leaving office.

A member of the party’s National Executive Committee told The Times that it was timing a recruitment drive to coincide with Mr Blair’s departure. Some Labour MPs have already started contacting lapsed members, many of whom left because of Iraq. One said: “I have been writing to all my former members who said that they would not be a member while Blair was leader, inviting them to rejoin.”

Labour membership is 198,026, a loss of more than 50,000 over the previous four years and less than half the 400,000 peak in 1997.

Mr Blair will be accused by David Cameron today of behaving like a vain pop star as the Tory leader increases his criticism of the protracted handover to Gordon Brown. Mr Cameron is expected to say at a press conference: “In this country, we don’t do farewell tours. Tony Blair was elected to be the Prime Minister of our country, not a pop star. We cannot afford week after week of decisions being made that could be reversed, ministers in posts who could be removed, civil servants not knowing who is in charge, and Parliament not being able to hold the Government to account properly.”

Mr Brown faced hostile questioning yesterday over Iraq at the first of ten leadership election hustings, which he is required to attend even though he is unchallenged. He was heckled at the event at Warwick University, near Coventry, and a woman protester was dragged from the room.

Admitting that the issue was divisive and difficult, he said: “The number of troops that started off was 44,000 and there are now just 7,000 and that number continues to go down.” He said nothing, however, to suggest that he was about to change the Government’s policy on Iraq after a report that the White House fears that he will cool relations with the US Administration.

Brigadier-General Mark Kimmitt, the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence, said that he did not expect a change of policy by Britain and added that he was not aware of any suggestion that Mr Brown would accelerate the withdrawal of British troops.

The six candidates for the post of Mr Brown’s deputy jostled for position at the Warwick University hustings and spelt out competing definitions of the role.

Peter Hain told the GMTV Sunday programme, before the event, that his rivals were wrong to suggest that the deputy leader should focus on party matters and stay aloof from policy-making. “I see this job as right at the heart . . . at the centre of policy-making,” he said. Of the other candidates, only Alan Johnson, who is the narrow favourite, supports the view that the deputy leader should have a prominent government role.

Hazel Blears, Hilary Benn and Harriet Harman all emphasised the need for unity. The backbencher Jon Cruddas said that he was not interested in joining the Cabinet. He calledfor the role to be separate from Deputy Prime Minister.

Deputies’ odds

5-2 A Johnson, H Benn;
4-1 H Harman, H Blears;
7-1 P Hain;
8-1 J Cruddas

Source: Coral

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