Downing Street dismisses 'shambles' memo

Downing Street distances itself from internal memo claiming government is a shambles

Sunday, 17, Dec 2006 12:00

Downing Street has denied any connection with a secret memo that says the government is seen as a "shambles".

The Mail on Sunday published the internal memo that it claimed was written by one of Tony Blair's top advisors.

The document suggests Labour should ditch plans for Gordon Brown to be the next prime minister in favour of a younger leader to recover their "low" standing.

It states: "We can rally round or we can go for total renewal, moving to a new generation, effectively forming a new government while still in power.

"Gordon Brown is part of our record. If we disown him, we run the risk of disowning our record. The public will recoil from evidence of disloyalty towards Gordon.

"Whatever people think of him as a [potential] prime minister, they still greatly respect him as a chancellor."

The memo also says the public believes the party is suffering from "internal conflicts" and Mr Blair faces a "s**t or bust decision on how to stop the rot".

It suggests that people who voted Labour at the last election are moving across to the Conservatives as the government are "floundering on every major issue" like Iraq and the NHS.

But the prime minister's spokesman today said it was not a Number 10 memo.

He added: "It was not written by any of the prime minister's staff and it most certainly does not reflect his views."

Deputy prime minister John Prescott also rubbished the memo and suggested that it could have been from a junior Labour member.

"It's been emphatically denied by No. 10 that it is anybody in No. 10," Mr Prescott told BBC One's Sunday AM AM programme.

"I can't be sure that it might not be a teenybopper on the side giving some kind of information and advice."