Blair ‘restarts attack on Brown in memoirs’
By politics.co.uk staff
Tony Blair launches a tough attack on Gordon Brown in his memoirs, according to media reports.
The Sun quotes from a source who has seen copies of the memoir, set to be published tomorrow, saying the book also contains clear endorsements of David Miliband.
If so, the book could be explosive, coming out on the same day that voting begins for the next Labour leader.
“Tony makes it clear he thinks Gordon could have won the election if he hadn’t turned his back on New Labour,” the source said.
“Raising the top rate of tax and planning to put up National Insurance were things he would never have done.
“He thinks the party went back to being old Labour in the eyes of voters, who punished them at the ballot box.”
An attack on Mr Brown would restart years of comflict between the two men, whose cold war against each other in power was constantly in the news.
The news comes just as Peter Mandelson finds himself under fire from much of the Labour party for calling on leadership candidates not to give up on the New Labour project.
With David Miliband desperately trying to disassociate himself from the ‘Blairite’ tag, he will be keen to avoid a public nomination from Mr Blair, who remains a divisive figure in the Labour party.
