Blair finally spills the beans: How I tried to break Gordon's power base

12 April 2012

The last laugh: Tony Blair claims credit for the Bank of England's independence

Tony Blair was accused of undermining Gordon Brown last night after dramatically breaking his silence about their constant rows during his ten years as Prime Minister.

In a new BBC film, Mr Blair boasts that he could have carried on longer in No10 if he had wanted to and was "not bothered" by the way Mr Brown plotted against him.

He admits for the first time that he secretly planned to destroy Mr Brown's power base by breaking up the Treasury after the last Election. And Mr Blair claims he - and not his successor - was responsible for making the Bank of England independent.

The programme says Mr Blair believed Mr Brown's allies plotted against him over plans for university top-up fees.

It says Schools Minister Ed Balls, Mr Brown's closest ally, secretly egged on rebel Labour MPs to vote against Mr Blair over the fees in a bid to bring him down.

The three-part film, The Blair Years, which starts next week, features three interviews with the former PM conducted in recent months by newspaper columnist David Aaronovitch, one of Mr Blair's leading media cheerleaders who has dined at Chequers.

It is the first time Mr Blair has spoken about Mr Brown since stepping down.

Blairite Ministers and officials have queued up to lambast Mr Brown in the film. Pointedly, Mr Brown refused to talk to the BBC.

Mr Blair's Downing Street political adviser, Baroness Sally Morgan, says of Mr Brown's Treasury: "They drove us mad."

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Tension: Gordon Brown was described as having behaved like an adolescent son

Former spin doctor Alastair Campbell says Mr Blair resisted calls to sack Mr Brown partly because he could have wreaked havoc in Cabinet exile.

And ex-Welfare Minister Frank Field says Mr Brown "glared and growled across the table" at Mr Blair who treated him like "an adolescent son".

In the first part of the film, Mr Blair says: "The relationship between myself and Gordon was different to most Prime Ministers and Chancellors. It's true there were tensions..."

Mr Blair provocatively claims credit for Mr Brown's announcement in 1997 that the Bank of England would become independent.

"Obviously if Gordon had been against it that would have been a different matter altogether, but he wasn't," he says.

Former Cabinet Secretary Lord Butler accuses Mr Blair and Mr Brown of acting like a "revolutionary cell" inside New Labour and attacks Mr Blair for refusing to consult the Cabinet about the decision. "[Mr Blair] said to me: 'They will all agree'. I said: 'That's not the point, we have Cabinet government in this country, it is a big decision and people will expect the decision to have been taken by the Cabinet.'"

Mr Blair tells Aaronovitch: "I didn't want any argy-bargy. If you'd had a Cabinet discussion and people saying it's a bad idea and that had come out, the Government would have ended before it began."

He would have handed over to Mr Brown earlier, but was determined to force through health and education reforms opposed by his Chancellor. "I wanted to get them screwed and bolted down before I left," he says.

Left-wing MP Ian Gibson reveals how, during the university top-up fees revolt in 2003, Ed Balls, then Mr Brown's senior aide, told him to step up the fight against the Prime Minister's education shake-up. "I met Ed and he said: 'Gosh, you've been on the TV and radio a lot recently on the issue, keep going, excellent.'" Mr Balls did not recall the conversation.

Asked if he knew that Mr Brown plotted against him, Mr Blair tries to brush the suggestion aside saying: "There is no point in going into the past in a way that would be unhelpful to him now. I'm not saying there weren't real problems, but it never bothered me."

Pressed to say if he ratted on a promise to step aside for Mr Brown much sooner, Mr Blair says: "You don't do deals with the job of Prime Minister." Of his June resignation, Mr Blair says: "It's not that I couldn't have gone on a little longer, I probably could."

During the programmes, Mr Field says: "There was this extraordinary tension between them.

"The PM was incredibly gentle with the Chancellor but there was no give at all. One wondered: how do you put up with it and at what point do you sack him?

"The Chancellor just glared and growled across the table. The PM behaved as though he was looking after an adolescent son going through a bad patch."

Last night a senior Labour MP said: "Nobody will believe Mr Blair was responsible for Bank of England independence.

"He should stop undermining the Government."

The day Brown moved in to No10

According to New Labour's official history, June 27, 2007 was the happiest day in the lives of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown - the day that Mr Blair graciously stood down and transferred the reins of power to his chosen heir and successor.

But these photographs taken in Downing Street on that day tell a very different story.

The body language is of two men who can barely stand to be in each other's presence.

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Get out of my house: Gordon Brown waits impatiently for Tony Blair to leave... but Blair has to put his specs away first

The pictures are from a BBC film crew given unprecedented access on the day that Mr Brown finally succeeded in ousting his Downing Street neighbour.

The tension is tangible. In one frame, Mr Brown looks impatient as Mr Blair puts away his glasses. In another, it is Mr Blair who appears irritated. Moments after these two pictures were taken, as they parted more like strangers than lifelong friends and allies, Mr Blair suddenly noticed they have been caught on camera. Clearly alarmed, he raised his hand. These are clearly not images they wanted the world to see.

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Cut: Blair is alarmed as he realises the whole uncomfortable transaction has been filmed

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