Brown demands March handover as Blair's power haemorrhages

Tony Blair

LONDON - Tony Blair and Gordon Brown are deeply divided over the timetable and terms under which the Prime Minister should leave Downing Street.

As Blair allies accused Brown supporters of orchestrating a plot to topple the Prime Minister, the two men held two heated crisis meetings at Number 10 but failed to break the deadlock between them.

On a day which saw the dramatic resignations from the Government of one minister and six parliamentary aides who want Mr Blair to quit immediately, the rift between New Labour's two main architects fuelled speculation that the Prime Minister could soon be forced out of office by his own MPs in a bloody coup.

More resignations could follow on Thursday unless Mr Blair makes a personal pledge about his departure timetable, critics warned.

They claimed more than 100 Labour MPs were not satisfied by hints that Mr Blair would resign on 31 May next year and leave office on 26 July.

One opponent claimed the Prime Minister could be "out by the end of this week" unless he makes an immediate statement clarifying his intentions.

He may be forced to do so as early as today in order to survive.

Facing the gravest threat to his nine-year premiership, Mr Blair met Mr Brown on Wednesday morning and again in the afternoon and they also spoke by telephone.

He rejected as "totally unreasonable" the demands made by the Chancellor.

Sources claimed Mr Brown insisted that Mr Blair personally announce a timetable under which a new Labour leader would be in place before next May's elections to the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and English local authorities; that Mr Blair endorse Mr Brown as his successor and discourage other Cabinet ministers from standing in the leadership election and accept a system of "co-decision" under which the Chancellor would have a veto over major policy decisions in the run-up to the handover.

Doug Henderson, a former minister and key Brown ally, spelt out the Brown camp's demands in a series of media interviews.

He called for the leadership election to start by this November at the latest to ensure a new leader was installed by next March, so he could "set out his stall" well in advance of the elections.

The Brown camp denied orchestrating a putsch against Mr Blair.

Allies of the Chancellor accused Mr Blair of damaging Labour's prospects of retaining power by clinging to office and refusing to honour his promise last year to ensure a "stable and orderly transition".

They said it would be unreasonable for a new prime minister to take office next July as he would not be able to make any impact at the end of the political season.

Mr Blair's authority was ebbing away by the hour after Tom Watson, a junior defence minister and Brown supporter, resigned rather than remove his name from a letter signed by 15 Labour MPs calling on the Prime Minister to "stand aside."

Mr Watson, who would have been sacked yesterday afternoon, outwitted Mr Blair by quitting yesterday morning.

The crisis deepened when six other signatories joined him by quitting as parliamentary private secretaries, the lowest rung of the government ladder.

Kevin Brennan, a government whip, kept his job after denying as "completely untrue" a report in The Independent yesterday that he backed the letter and then withdrawn his name.

He said: "I have never signed any letter in the first place, so I could hardly have withdrawn my name from it".

In his reply to Mr Watson, Mr Blair warned that the move to oust him would risk a return to the divisions which kept Labour out of power for 18 years.

He said: "The way to renew and win again now is not to engage in a divisive and totally unnecessary attempt to unseat the party leader, less than 15 months after our historic third-term victory; but through setting out the policy agenda for the future combined with a stable and orderly transition that leaves ample time for the next leader to bed in."

With Mr Brown maintaining a public silence, he was urged by Blair allies to issue a statement of support.

One Blairite minister said: "The Prime Minister does not need to decide anything. The only person who needs to make a decision is Gordon Brown: does he want a stable and orderly transition or does he want to be the beneficiary of a bloody coup and inherit a bitterly divided party?"

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