Salford-born and bred, Blears became Labour MP for Salford and Eccles in 1997, and was secretary of state for communities and local government from 2007 to 2009
Why are you standing down now?
There’s a moment in politics where you know it’s the right thing to do. I’ll have done four terms, and parliamentary life is such a cycle – Queen’s speech, half term, Christmas, legislative programme… It is very institutional, and there’s not very much brand new for me to do. And I like new challenges.
What won’t you miss about the job?
I love my constituency, it’s where my family live; but when you go to the doctor’s you end up doing your own surgery in the doctor’s. If you go to B&Q you have to put your makeup on. You are constantly exposed, and that’s quite tough on your family as well.
What’s been your proudest moment as an MP?
Bringing neighbourhood policing into this country. Now policing has changed from a response model, where the cops would go out, put the sirens on, sort the bad guys out, lock them up and then retreat. Neighbourhood policing is built on long-term relationships, co-opting the public into helping you with intelligence and information.
Has your experience as an MP been tainted by the expenses scandal, where you had to pay back £13,332 in capital-gains tax?
Not really, no – certainly not here in parliament. Those were the rules that pertained. I agree with the changes that have taken place, but that was the system then. In politics, stuff happens and you’ve got two choices: you can run away or you can get on with it. And I’m not really the running away kind.
Bez from the Happy Mondays is standing for the Reality Party in your seat of Salford and Eccles. How would you feel about him replacing you?
I’ve no doubt he feels passionately about the things he cares about. I know he does about fracking. There will be a small number of people who’ll vote for him – and I don’t say that in a patronising way – but most people in Salford and Eccles are sensible, mainstream people and their agenda is pretty much what the Labour party’s agenda is: decent education for their kids, a reasonable house to live in, somebody to love – not that politicians can give you somebody to love.
How do you feel about your nickname: ‘Chipmunk’, or even ‘the Iron Chipmunk’?
I don’t really recognise or acknowledge my nickname. Nobody, genuinely, has called me it. There is a bit of a heightist thing in politics – slightly. It’s not so bad for women, but I think for shorter men it’s quite tough.
As an MP, you had some well-known outside interests, notably motorbike riding and tap dancing. Do you plan to pursue those more now?
I like to dance. I haven’t ridden my motorbike for about four years. But I’m learning to tango, and my dream is to go to Buenos Aires and sit in a milonga and look terribly languid as this guy comes over and says, “Would you like to tango?”
Are too many politicians a bit dull now?
I don’t know. I just feel that you’re only here once, so you should do things that give you energy: it could be a walk on the beach or listening to poetry… anything. Otherwise you do become a kind of desiccated politician who only ever reads books about politics, and then the world becomes smaller and smaller. I’m blessed with a fairly cheerful demeanour, and that could be where the nickname came from – not that I would ever comment on that.
If you were asked to go on Strictly would you do it?
I think [my husband] Mike would go barmy, ha ha. He hasn’t been able to veto much in my life, but I think he probably would veto that. But perhaps I’d get to dance with Vincent or something… You’re leading me astray now, so stop it!
