Hazel Blears will formally enter Labour's deputy leadership race tomorrow with a warning that members feel left out and disengaged, and have a relationship with the government based only on what they are reading in newspapers.
Ms Blears, who chairs the party, will promise to be a strong voice for Labour at the centre, offering herself as minister for delivery and trust around the cabinet table. "We have got to work harder to bring party and government together - that will be one of my main roles," she said.
Her announcement came on the day the former environment minister, Michael Meacher said he would stand for the Labour leadership.
In a briefing to MPs, Ms Blears said: "I know that [after] 10 years in office some members feel disengaged. That does not mean we should change course or distance ourselves from our own successes. But we should recognise that one product of a lengthy period in office is that some party members feel left out. They don't have a relationship with their Labour government, other than what they read in newspapers."
She said she would bring problem-solving capabilities to the job and defended her optimism, insisting she was no "Pollyanna loyalist" who would be unable to stand up to such a strong personality as Gordon Brown. In an interview with the Guardian, she also claimed her character and gender could act as an attractive complement to a premiership taken on by the present chancellor.
"I am not putting myself forward as the woman candidate - but in a modern 21st-century progressive left-of-centre party, people would love to see a man and a woman," Ms Blears said. "They would like to see men and women working together to solve problems."
Ms Blears will be the sixth candidate to put herself forward for the deputy leadership and will now have to work in a crowded field to ensure she receives the 44 nominations she needs to stand.
Ms Blears, once seen as an ultra Blairite, heaped praise on Mr Brown, saying he was "incredibly strong and clever". She added: "People are looking for maturity. It is a pretty scary world out there. If there is overwhelming support for Gordon, I do not see any point in having an empty contest for the leadership."
There have been allegations that she has been misusing her post as party chair to run an "under the radar" campaign, but she insists she only finally decided to run a fortnight ago. She will formally launch her campaign on Saturday in her constituency, Salford, the city she claimed was nearly destroyed by Thatcherism.
Ms Blears urged the party not to abandon the formula that won three elections in a row and gained votes in the marginals. "You have to have a sense that we are the party of success. Success is not a dirty word. People want to do well." She added: "I have never been a believer in a strong central state, and I am heartened by Gordon's recent statements that the days of pulling the central lever are behind us."
Despite her admission that the party felt disengaged from government, she defended her view that members should not be given a chance to vote on Trident before the imminent parliamentary vote.
Mr Meacher, meanwhile, claimed the support of 30 MPs but neither he nor the other putative leftwing candidate for party leader, John McDonnell, have anywhere near the 45 nominations required to get on the ballot paper.
A Daily Telegraph/YouGov poll today is likely to add to some Labour MPs' concern that Gordon Brown's ability to beat David Cameron is fading as he waits for the prime minister to stand down. It shows the public believe the Tories are more likely to run the economy well than Labour - by 30% to 27% - for the first time in more than 10 years. At the last general election, Labour had a 22-point lead on economic competence. It follows a Guardian/ICM poll which gave the Tories a 13-point lead when voters were asked which party they would back in a likely contest between Mr Brown, David Cameron and Sir Menzies Campbell.
Declared leadership contenders
Gordon Brown
John McDonnell
Michael Meacher
Declared deputy leadership contenders
Hilary Benn
Hazel Blears
Jon Cruddas
Peter Hain
Harriet Harman
Alan Johnson