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Prescott advised Blair to “sack” Brown

LONDON: Tony Blair may now be advising Prime Minister Gordon Brown as the latter struggles to tide over the crisis facing the Labour Party. However, there was a time when their relations were in such poor state that John Prescott, who was then the Deputy Prime Minister, told Mr. Blair to “sack” Mr. Brown.

His advice to Mr. Brown as he became increasingly angry and impatient with Mr. Blair was: “resign” and challenge Mr. Blair openly. The claim, contained in Mr. Prescott’s memoirs, Prezza: My Story: Pulling No Punches, which is being serialised in The Sunday Times, came a day after Mr. Blair’s wife Cherie sought to put a gloss on the Blair-Brown relationship, saying her husband was, in fact, secretly advising Mr. Brown on how to win the next general election.

Mr. Prescott, who has been close to both Mr. Blair and Mr. Brown, and was frequently called upon to mediate in their rows over the leadership issue, said he told Mr. Blair — who was “moaning about Mr. Brown’s behaviour” — to: “Sack him (Mr. Borwn). Find a new Chancellor, if that’s how you really feel.” But Mr. Blair, he claimed, was “scared” of taking the extreme step.

“Tony knew that sacking Gordon would tear the party apart. I also think Tony was scared of Gordon. He didn’t want to take him on. Gordon is a very tough negotiator, doesn’t let things drop, and keeps at something till he forces you into his point of view. That’s not Tony’s style,” wrote Mr. Prescott.

On one occasion when Mr. Brown was complaining that Mr. Blair had once again reneged on his promise to quit, Mr. Prescott told him: “If this is how you feel, that you’ve been misled once again, resign. I think he thought about it, but it never came to that. He was aware of the possible consequences.” Mr. Prescott, who was forced to resign over a sex scandal, says the Blair-Brown feud got progressively worse during Mr. Blair’s second term, thus causing him (Mr. Prescott) to intervene “hundreds” of times.

“When I consult my notes, I see there must have been hundreds of calls, meetings on various issues,” he said.

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