Levy, Cherie and Prescott: own words

Last Modified: 12 May 2008
By: Channel 4 News

A recent flurry of political autobiographies have ignited headlines - and made some uncomfortable reading for Gordon Brown.

Cherie Blair's autobiography - originally not expected to be published until the autumn - was serialised in The Times and The Sun over the weekend.

An extensive interview and extract from former deputy PM John Prescott' s book appeared in yesterday's Sunday Times. And former Labour party fundraiser Lord Levy's autobiography, A Question of Honour, was published today.

Here's what the three said about some key moments for Tony Blair - and his relationship with Gordon Brown.

The deal

Cherie Blair: "Back in London there was yet another meeting with Gordon. It was at Lyndsey's [Cherie's sister's] house ... This was the meeting where essentially it was agreed that Tony would stand unopposed and Gordon would be chancellor.

"As for Granita, they did meet up there a day or two later. But by then it was all done and dusted. The Granita meeting was basically for them to talk about the announcement. It wasn't the forum for the kind of stormy discussions that had preceded it. No way would that have happened in public, in a restaurant.

"It was always a given that they would work in tandem and that when Tony stood down Gordon would take over. Tony also made it clear to Gordon that he had no intention of staying leader for ever and that when he did stand down he would support Gordon as his natural successor, assuming they worked well together as PM and chancellor in the meantime."

John Prescott: "I don't think there was any doubt about it: there was an agreement. It had to be halfway into the second period - you couldn't do a deal by saying if we win three elections you'll get the job. There was less and less trust between them." A Blair "wobble"

Cherie Blair: "There was no doubt that in April 2004, with Gordon rattling the keys above his head, Tony suffered a crisis of confidence as to whether he was still an asset to the Labour party. I remained determined that Tony was not going to resign, that he was going to fight the next election and win it.

"Among many others, I was convinced that if Tony failed to stand for a third term, it would be seen as a response to criticism of the war. It would be read by history as a tacit admission of failure.

"I worried that he was responding to a Guardian-type intelligentsia who would never forgive him for Iraq even if he were to flagellate himself in front of them but who would just say: 'I told you so. We should never have trusted him.'"

The "attempted coup" of autumn 2006

Lord Levy: "There had ... been an open campaign by backbench Labour MPs, including allies of Gordon Brown, to force him out of Downing Street. To stave off the 'coup', Blair had finally had to declare publicly that he would retire sometime before the 2007 Labour Party conference.

"When I phoned Tony on a Middle East diplomatic mission immediately after the coup, his habitual tone of forbearance and forgiveness towards Gordon seemed finally to have gone. Brown, typically, had assured Blair that the plot had been nothing to do with him. But Tony, it was clear, simply no longer believed him.

"More furious than I had seen him in all the years I had known him, he kept saying that he had never realised how duplicitous Gordon was - and what a 'liar'."

Blair's standing down

Cherie Blair: "Gordon wanted to become prime minister so much, he failed to understand that, had he been prepared to implement Tony's programmes on internal reform - academy schools, foundation hospitals and pensions - Tony would have stood down, there is no question. Instead of which Tony felt he had no option but to stay on and fight for the things he believed in."

John Prescott: The former deputy PM said Brown would "always" ask Blair: 'When are you going?'.

"Then Tony would lay down certain conditions: he'd say, 'Look, if we can get this done, win this election, do that' ... and then afterwards, it didn't happen. Gordon believed Tony had said he'd go halfway into the second term. Tony denied it."

"Gordon was unfairly treated. But from Tony's point of view, there were things that [Tony] couldn't get on with, like joining the euro, because he wasn't getting the cooperation."