Tony Blair was the most to blame

Even though he threw down the gauntlet to Tony Blair to sack Gordon Brown as Chancellor at the height of the pair's rows, what's fascinating about this morning's ST extracts from John Prescott's memoirs is that the ex DPM seems to have sided more with Gordon than Tony.

With Tony, when he was moaning on about Gordon’s behaviour, I’d say, ‘Sack him. Find a new chancellor, if that’s how you really feel’. But neither could take the final step. They were caught in their own trap. 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, keeps at something till he forces you into his point of view. That’s not Tony’s style. Gordon is a difficult character, but sometimes Tony exaggerated how difficult he had been, just to get sympathy.

I have no doubt that Tony was most to blame. He broke his agreement with Gordon, not once but several times. However, in Tony’s defence, most of his promises were ambiguous and on condition anyway.