Blair 'in torment' over nightmare of Iraq

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair descended into such a deep depression after the Iraq war that he told his Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, and deputy, John Prescott, he would quit the following northern summer - only to renege within months, a new book by the Observer's Andrew Rawnsley reveals.

Blair's physical and mental decline was so profound that he confided to friends that he "spaced out" several times during Prime Minister's Questions and often woke in the middle of the night with sweat trickling down the back of his neck.

Rawnsley's account is in The End of the Party, published tomorrow, which lays bare for the first time how Blair was haunted and tormented by the deepening chaos and bloodshed in Iraq at the same time as being worn down by the constant psychological warfare waged by Brown, who was increasingly desperate to take his job.

While Blair's gift for presentation helped him to hide his depression from the public and most of his staff, his turmoil was so severe that he decided to hand over to Brown midway through his second term.

Rawnsley is the first journalist to detail how Blair made it clear at a dinner with Brown and Prescott in November 2003, and later in a call to Prescott in the northern spring of 2004, that he would step down.

Sally Morgan, Blair's director of government relations, told Rawnsley: "Iraq was a quicksand swallowing him up. The atrocities. Those terrible photos [of Abu Ghraib]. And he started losing people who had supported him throughout. He was stuck in this long dark tunnel and could see no way out."

The book relates how Blair's special envoy in Iraq, the former United Nations ambassador Sir Jeremy Greenstock, came to 10 Downing St at the end of his service in Baghdad to brief Blair.

Greenstock knew that his "very gloomy assessment" had made him highly unpopular in the building. Some at No 10 tried to keep him away, fearing the impact on Blair's morale.

As they sat in Blair's den, Greenstock warned him that the situation looked "unbelievably bad" and would get worse in the months to come.

"What can we do?" pleaded Blair. "We have told them [the Americans] again and again what we think is necessary. If it doesn't happen, what can we do?"

Greenstock was left with the image of the Prime Minister "tearing his hair" over Iraq and "throwing his hands in the air".

Rawnsley then charts in detail how Blair - urged by his wife, Cherie, and closest political friends to pull back from the brink and deny Brown his chance - gradually recovered his self-belief and decided to fight on. The volte-face caused Brown's frustration to turn to rage.

A senior aide to Brown tells Rawnsley: "All conversation stopped. It all went suspiciously silent. Tony couldn't bring himself to tell Gordon directly."

On one occasion Brown went to No 10 to get an answer. One of Blair's inner circle who witnessed this says: "Gordon was just losing it. He was behaving like a belligerent teenager. Just standing in the office shouting: 'When are you going to f***ing go?"'

Blair's dark period throughout late 2003 and early 2004 was compounded by his heart complaint and anxiety that his children were suffering at school because of the unpopular war their father had championed in Iraq.

His friend and Cabinet colleague Tessa Jowell says: "He was very low, he was very lonely and he was very tired."

In November 2003 John Prescott, who was acting as "referee" between the Prime Minister and his Chancellor, hosted a dinner to discuss their differences and address the succession.

Next morning a visibly excited Brown told his key aides that Blair had assured him he was going in the northern summer.

They were sceptical, having heard about similar promises before. But by the northern spring Blair was to telephone Prescott and tell him he had settled on June as his departure date.

Behind the scenes, Blair's allies feared he was wobbling and were hatching a strategy to boost his morale.

Jowell told him "You're going to get through this." Blair replied without conviction: "I'm fine darling. Don't worry about me. I'm fine." Blair's friends noticed that women were better at bolstering him than men.

"Come on. Buck up. Buck up," Peter Mandelson told him. "Think of what you have to do. Think of what you've got to achieve. You're the best politician in this country by a mile. So just get on top of this."

In mid-2004, Blair's zest for the job returned and he decided to stay to fight the 2005 election, which Labour won.

In mid-2006, Prescott was so frustrated with Blair's refusal to name a handover date that he threatened to resign as Deputy Prime Minister unless Blair did so.

- OBSERVER