Gordon Brown has accused Tony Blair of betraying his key promises in the pact the two men made over the Labour leadership to stand down early in his second term as Prime Minister and of a “partnership” at the top of the party.

Writing in his memoirs, which are published on Tuesday, Mr Brown said Mr Blair reassured him that he had made a “family choice” that he would give up the premiership after as little as five years so he could spend time with his three children while they were in their teens.

The book said the media had “wrongly” focused on what was said between the pair during a meal at the Granita restaurant in Islington in May 1994, which he said was a “formality” after the agreement to give Mr Blair a free run at the leadership was hammered out in the preceding days.

But he recalled how Mr Blair “emphasised the word “partnership again and again” after they left restaurant, where the deal was “rubber-stamped” that Mr Brown would not contest the leadership following John Smith’s death.

The former Chancellor concluded: “The restaurant did not survive and neither did our agreement.” Speaking at an event in Edinburgh University on Sunday to mark the book’s publication, Mr Brown said Mr Blair will "almost certainly" be remembered for the Iraq war despite all that he achieved.