The new Labour legacy of Tony Blair was called into question last night as the six contenders to be Gordon Brown’s deputy revealed sharply differing views on taxing the rich in a special debate. On the BBC Two Newsnight programme, Hazel Blears, the party chairman, and Alan Johnson, the Education Secretary, both suggested that it would be electoral suicide to abandon Mr Blair’s emphasis on aspiration and refusal to increase taxes.

In a largely good-natured debate with no clear winners, the other candidates said that they were deeply concerned at the gap between rich and poor. Hilary Benn, the International Development Secretary, talked about redistribution, saying that he was proud to be a socialist, and Jon Cruddas and Harriet Harman hinted that they may raise taxes to tackle the problem.

Ms Harman, the Justice Minister, said: “We are not just worried about where the bottom is in terms of poverty. We are worried about the gap with rich and poor. You can’t have proper equality of opportunity with a huge gap between rich and poor. Do we want to be a divided society where some people struggle and others spend £10,000 on a handbag?” She was looking for the revival of a royal commission on equality to look at the issue.

Mr Cruddas went farther, explicitly suggesting that there may have to be higher taxes “for the David Beckhams of this world” to raise money to tackle issues such as child poverty. He also questioned the Labour Party’s closeness to business. “There is a sense that political parties have been purchased by big business and I think that’s summed up in the cash-for-access row.”

Mr Benn and Mr Johnson, the bookies’ favourites, suggested that they would approach the job of deputy leader from significantly different positions.

In an opening address that was designed to appeal to the Labour heartlands and the unions, Mr Benn said: “I think we need to be unapologetic about our socialist values. I think that matters just as much as our policies. Indeed, I think they should shape them. It’s why we’ve been able to help millions of people around the world out of poverty. I want a democracy in which people give something back . . . and that redistributes wealth and opportunity.”

Mr Johnson said that any attempt to tax the rich would be misguided: “That is the worst thing we can do. We can’t go back to the politics of envy . . . We must be about aspiration.”

Ms Blears was even more emphatic, insisting: “I’m certainly not about capping aspiration.”

Despite earlier suggestion in his campaign that he may urge Mr Brown capping city bonuses, Peter Hain, the Northern Ireland Secretary, took a more ambivalent position, presenting himself as a radical while attacking suggestions that a new debate on tax was needed.

“What I want to do is reach out all those we’ve lost touch with. We won’t do that by more of the same. We have achieved a lot. We need a radical new vision leading the world in the fight against climate changing, reducing the gap between rich and poor and democracy from House of Lords onwards.”

Another division emerged over the proposal for an amnesty for illegal immigrants. Mr Johnson, Ms Harman and Mr Cruddas suggested that it may be a good idea, while Mr Hain said that it would be a “recruiting sergeant for the BNP”. On Iraq Mr Cruddas and Ms Harman said that they had been wrong to vote for the war and that Labour should apologise.

The Chancellor is set to appoint the victor in the deputy leadership race as his deputy prime minister. Gordon Brown is “working on the assumption” that whoever is named John Prescott’s party successor at a special party conference in Manchester on June 24 will also take over Mr Prescott’s role.

Latest odds

Hilary Benn 6-4
Alan Johnson 2-1
Harriet Harman 6-1
Hazel Blears 6-1
Jon Cruddas 10-1
Peter Hain 12-1

Source: Ladbrokes

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