LET'S DON'T LET A GOOD THING DIE

Revealed: How Tony Blair cynically betrayed Brown over promise to quit (Melissa Kite, 09/01/2005, Sunday Telegraph)

An explosive new book, Brown's Britain, demonstrates that for more than six months from the end of 2003 Tony Blair repeatedly assured the Chancellor that he would quit in the autumn of 2004 but, in the end, cynically betrayed his oldest political friend and most powerful Cabinet colleague.

The scale of the duplicity has caused the relationship between the two most powerful men in British politics "to degenerate into one based on mutual animosity and contempt".

While Mr Brown and his allies put the blame for the breakdown of the partnership on Mr Blair's treachery, allies of the Prime Minister accuse Mr Brown of disloyalty and of seeking to destabilise Mr Blair so that he could become Prime Minister himself.

One of the PM's most senior and closest allies claims: "Frankly, Gordon should be Prime Minister by now and he only has himself to blame that he's not. All that Tony simply asked was that he should give him total support over the year. And instead of being loyal and helpful, he was obstructive and difficult."

Mr Brown and his allies deny that he reneged on his side of the bargain.

Who was it who said: in politics, if you want a friend buy a dog.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 8, 2005 8:05 PM