A regional political reporter landed his second big scoop in as many days – then watched it being shown on national TV.

David Ottewell of the Manchester Evening News has now landed exclusive interviews with two of the MPs whose resignations nearly toppled Gordon Brown.

As reported on HTFP earlier today, David beat the nationals to secure the first interview with former Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell yesterday.

Today, he followed that up by landing an exclusive interview with Hazel Blears, who also quit the Cabinet last week.

Ms Blears told the MEN of her “regrets” over the timing of her resignation just before the Euro-elections, denying it was part of a plot to bring down the Prime Minister.

The interview was filmed for the MEN’s companion TV station Channel M, and later syndicated to the BBC and Sky News where it ran as part of their live news coverage this morning.

BBC Radio 4 has also asked for the tape of the interview, which was also recorded by Real Radio, the MEN’s sister radio station.

See the interview in full here.