Communities secretary, Hazel Blears, has played down talk of a rift with prime minister, Gordon Brown, after appearing to criticise his leadership. Ms Blears said any suggestion that she had criticised Mr Brown's stewardship of the UK was ‘completely wrong'. In a national newspaper, Ms Blears said Mr Brown's use of new media, such as YouTube videos, to promote Labour's message was ‘no substitute for knocking on doors'. She also said ministers had a ‘collective responsibility for the Government's lamentable failure to get our message across'.