We have dissed our own record: Astonishing secret memo in which Blair accuses Brown of ‘hubris and vacuity’

Tony Blair has delivered a savage attack on Gordon Brown in a secret memo accusing him of playing into David Cameron’s hands by his ‘lamentable’ and ‘vacuous’ performance as Prime Minister.

The former Prime Minister boasts that Mr Cameron was ‘in trouble’ before he resigned a year ago.

And he claims Mr Brown’s incompetence has made the Tories look like the party of the future and on course to win the next Election.

Furious: Blair's memo says Gordon Brown 'junked' the policy agenda he inherited but had 'nothing to put in its place' (file pictures)



The memo reveals Mr Blair’s fury at the way Mr Brown turned his back on his predecessor’s achievements, accusing him of ‘dissing our own record’.

He pours scorn on Mr Brown for claiming he would turn his back on the ‘spin’ of Mr Blair’s ten years in power and replace it with a more ‘honest’ style.

He says Mr Brown ‘junked the TB [Tony Blair] policy agenda but had nothing to put in its place’.

The bombshell disclosure comes as it emerged that Mr Blair has had regular talks with his close friend and political ally, Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who challenged Mr Brown’s leadership last week.

The memo shows that Mr Blair backs many of Blairite Mr Miliband’s private views about Mr Brown’s failings.

And it blows the lid off public assertions that Mr Blair supports his successor, claiming Mr Brown has made ‘fatal’ blunders by disowning Mr Blair’s record; failing to produce new policies; distancing himself from the Iraq War; and leaving the political landscape ‘wide open’ for the Tories to take the lead.

The Mail on Sunday has also learned that Mr Brown may be forced to call off his plan to reshuffle the Cabinet in September, which carries his last hopes of reviving the Government.

Ally: Blair has had regular talks with his close friend Foreign Secretary David Miliband

Labour MPs who support Mr Miliband say that if Mr Brown’s political fortunes do not improve in the next few weeks, Cabinet Ministers, including Mr Miliband, could stage a mass revolt and refuse to accept new jobs.

'Gordon’s position may be so weak that Ministers say to him collectively that he is the one who will have to be moved, not them,’ said one MP ally of Mr Miliband.

Mr Blair’s memo is another major blow to Mr Brown. Mr Blair sent a watered-down version to Mr Brown himself but it was stripped of the near abusive terms contained in the original draft.

The memo was written in the aftermath of Labour’s disastrous party conference last year. Today’s disclosure of its contents could not come at a worse time for Mr Brown.

The tone is despairing and makes it clear that Mr Blair thinks Mr Brown has little chance of recovering. In the months since it was written, Labour’s ratings have got even worse.

‘There is every indication that the lessons will not be learnt,’ says Mr Blair. ‘There has been a lamentable confusion of tactics and strategy.’

Mr Blair refers to himself in the third person as ‘TB’. Mr Brown is ‘GB’, David Cameron is ‘DC’ and new Labour ‘NL’.

He writes: ‘Tactically, it was thought clever to define by reference to TB i.e. this was not the era of spin, we are going to be honest, the style would change etc.’

Mr Blair explains why this was doomed to fail. ‘The consequence was twofold: we dissed our own record. Instead of saying we are building on the achievements, confronting new challenges, we joined in the attack on our own ten years – a fatal mistake. We junked the TB policy agenda but had nothing to put in its place.

‘We took the benefit of the anti-TB feeling but ... ended up accepting our opponents propaganda and appearing incapable of articulating a forward policy agenda.’

He is withering about Mr Brown’s conduct at last year’s Labour conference, when, with the Tories behind in the opinion polls, he scrapped plans for an autumn election after the Conservatives said they would slash inheritance tax.

‘The real problem was not the brilliance of the Tory conference but the hubris and vacuity of our own,’ says the memo. ‘The Tories ... appeared substantial and to represent the future.’

Mr Blair proclaims that ‘DC was in trouble long before TB left.’ And he argues it was because he had kept Mr Cameron ‘confused’ by sticking to New Labour policies whereas the Tory leader had been ‘empowered’ by Mr Brown’s short-term tactics.

Attack: Blair's memo accuses Gordon Brown of playing into David Cameron's hands

The Blair memo is scathing about Labour’s response to Mr Cameron’s policies – and in particular his decision to raise the inheritance tax threshold to £1million. And he argues that by mimicking the initiative, Mr Brown simply made Mr Cameron look stronger.

Mr Brown made another error by signalling he wanted to change policy on Iraq and bring British troops home sooner than planned, says Mr Blair.

‘By trying to be change, he played exactly the same game the media wanted but never the game that gives us the only chance of a 4th term.’

Mr Miliband is known to share many of Mr Blair’s opinions on Mr Brown’s shortcomings. He was head of the No10 policy unit under Mr Blair.

Mr Blair wanted him to challenge Mr Brown for the leadership when Mr Blair stepped down last year but Mr Miliband decided against.

Now Mr Brown has had a year in office and been judged a disappointment by most, Mr Miliband is convinced he can lead a Blairite-style revival.

His newspaper article last week that effectively marked the launch of his leadership campaign mirrored the frustration expressed in Mr Blair’s memo.

Mr Miliband’s allies say it was his exasperation with Mr Brown’s failure to expose David Cameron’s shortcomings that prompted him to risk his career by challenging Mr Brown.

A spokesman for Mr Blair said: ‘Tony Blair continues to be 100 per cent supportive of Gordon Brown’s Government.’ The spokesman declined to comment on the memo and said Mr Blair was on holiday and could not be contacted.





Extracts from the secret memo

'I am passing this message on to GB – not in these terms – and will try to help; but at present, there is every indication that the lessons will not be learnt.

'There has been a lamentable confusion of tactics and strategy. Tactically, it was thought clever to define by reference to TB i.e. this was not the era of spin, we are going to be honest, the style would change etc.

'Strategically the consequence was twofold: a) we dissed our own record – instead of saying we are building on the achievements, confronting new challenges, we joined in the attack on our own ten years – a fatal mistake if we do not correct it and b) because we were disowning ourselves as a government, we junked the TB policy agenda but had nothing to put in its place.

'So tactically we took the benefit of the anti-TB feeling, but strategically, we ended up accepting our opponents’ propaganda and appearing incapable of articulating a forward policy agenda.

'The real problem was not the brilliance of the Tory conference, but the hubris and vacuity of our own. This meant the Tories, by having something to say on policy, appeared substantial and to represent the future.

'The truth is that DC was in trouble long before TB left, but that was because he was being forced to choose on NL policy and found as a result that he couldn’t differentiate properly. The Tory policy is still not up to much but they are able to get traction on inheritance tax – unbelievably boosted by our own briefing – because otherwise the policy field is left wide open. DC is confused by proper strategy but immensely empowered by short-term tactics.

'The choice is and was always between GB running as the change candidate or as continuity NL. He never needed to worry about distancing on Iraq – it was never going to be seen as his issue; but he really needed to be seen as continuing NL not ditching it. By trying to be change, he played exactly the same game the media wanted but never the game that gives us the only chance of a 4th term.'