The Enigma Of Hazel Blears' Fan Club

Some of the most obscure MPs in the House have nominated Hazel Blears for Deputy Leader. I wouldn't go so far as to describe them as lobby fodder, but this lot have hardly ever rebelled against the Government whips between them:

Janet Anderson, Hilary Armstrong, Adrian Bailey, Roberta Blackman-Woods, Hazel Blears, Russell Brown, Andy Burnham, Rosie Cooper, Tony Cunningham, Robert Flello, Caroline Flint, Barry Gardiner, Andrew Gwynne, John Heppell, Meg Hillier, Sharon Hodgson, George Howarth, John Hutton, Gerald Kaufman, Barbara Keeley, Stephen Ladyman, Anne McGuire, Rosemary McKenna, Alan Milburn, Kali Mountford, Meg Munn, Bridget Prentice, Frank Roy, Christine Russell, Joan Ryan, Jacqui Smith, Anne Snelgrove, Helen Southworth, Dari Taylor, Kitty Ussher, Lynda Waltho.

Alongside them on the Blears list of nominators are this group of occasional rebels:

Graham Allen, David Borrow, Jim Dowd, Martyn Jones, Tessa Jowell, Eric Joyce, Ruth Kelly, Stephen McCabe, Siobhain McDonagh, Stephen Pound, John Reid and Paddy Tipping.

Strangely, with the exception of the two anti-war MPs (Graham Allen and Martyn Jones) who by definition were unlikely to hold senior positions, every member of the "rebel" group is a current or former Minister (Dowd, Jowell, Kelly, Reid) or a current or former PPS (Borrow, Joyce, McCabe, McDonagh, Pound, Tipping).

So Hazel's backing group comprises a large group of vegetables and a smaller group of high-flying trouble-makers.

The team meetings must be interesting ... I can imagine John Reid and Kitty Ussher getting on fantastically... one of these sets of people is being taken for a ride, but I'm not sure which.

And where are the rest of Hazel's supporters?