London: Gordon Brown subjected Tony Blair to ill-tempered and expletives-laden tirades - claiming Blair had ruined his life - in a fierce bid for British premiership in the months leading up to Blair`s resignation, says a controversial new book.
Brown, who became premier in June 2007 following a protracted power struggle, repeatedly shouted at Blair "you ruined my life" during a final confrontation in September 2006, according to the book ‘The End of the Party’ by British journalist Andrew Rawnsley.
An account of the book was carried in The Guardian on Thursday - just days after Brown was forced to deny the book`s claims that he bullied his staff.
Rawnsley`s book says that Brown, then chancellor of the Exchequer (finance minister), laid into Blair during a two-hour meeting in 2006, insisting that the prime minister not only step down in his favour but also ensure that his passage to premiership was uncontested.
It says Brown demanded: "Who do you think is better than me? Do you think there is anyone who is better than me?"
He then berated cabinet colleagues who were being named as potential leadership contenders: John Reid was "far too rightwing", Alan Johnson was "a lightweight" and David Miliband much too young.
According to the book, Blair later told close allies that the confrontation was "ghastly" and "terrible". "He (Brown) kept shouting at me that I`d ruined his life."
Brown subjected Blair to another verbal onslaught - on the telephone while the prime minister was holidaying with the Queen at her palace in Balmoral, Scotland - after Blair ally’s Alan Milburn wrote an article supporting his (Blair`s) right to stay on as prime minister.
The book says: "The chancellor`s fury was titanically demented even by his standards. `You put f***ing Milburn up to it`, Brown raged down the phone. `This is factionalism! This is Trotskyism! It`s f***ing Trotskyism!` Blair was nonplussed. He had not even seen the article. After the call, he read it and phoned Milburn to say it was excellent. They laughed about Brown`s hysterical reaction."
In the midst of Brown`s coup attempt, Frank Field, a former minister, told Blair: "You can`t go yet. You can`t let Mrs Rochester out of the attic."
Blair is said to have "roared with laughter" at the reference to the famous fictional character - a madwoman who is locked away in an attic - created by the 19th century English writer Charlotte Bronte in her book `Jane Eyre`.
Rawnsley`s book comes at an inconvenient time for Brown, who faces general elections due by June 3 for the first time since becoming Labour leader after Blair stepped down over the unpopular Iraq war.
Although credited with being an astute chancellor, Brown has had to face repeated allegations about his personality - described by many commentators as so serious as to be dour - since well before becoming prime minister.
He has also had to answer questions about his blindness in the left eye - the result of a teenage rugby accident.
The saga of the Blair-Brown rivalry - both men were said to have been favourites of Labour leader John Smith, who died unexpectedly after a heart attack in 1994 - has been chronicled and dramatised in several books and films.
Most accounts say Brown felt consistently aggrieved - and even betrayed - that Blair refused to hand over the leadership reigns to him after Labour`s first term in government from 1997 to 2001. Labour went on to win two subsequent elections in 2001 and 2005 but Blair remained prime minister.
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