Blair's bunker: leaked emails reveal real story of rows, abuse and threats

[dipsydoodle]

Downing Street emails detailing the rearguard battle to prevent Tony Blair being ousted from No 10 in September 2006 have been released that show the then prime minister's allies desperately trying to prevent him having to endorse his rival Gordon Brown.

The hundreds of emails, sent to and from Blair's core political team in No 10, reveal that the prime minister appears to have ordered his staff to describe the attempt to oust him as amounting to blackmail.

The source of the emails is Benjamin Wegg-Prosser, who was at the time director of the strategic communications unit in No 10. He said he was releasing the emails partly given the intrinsic interest in one of most dramatic weeks in Labour party history, but also to remind the party of the dangers of factionalism.

Reflecting in the Guardian today on those events, Wegg-Prosser writes: "When Labour returns to office, as it could do in less than two years, Ed Miliband will no doubt consider how the errors of the last generation should not be repeated by his. Drawing a line in the sand with the nastier politics of the Blair and Brown era, but not the sound policies, would be wise in my view."

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/sep/19/leaked-emails-blair-no-10-bunker

[non sociopath skin]

1. Miserable stuff

The Skin

[LeftishBrit]

2. Sadly, none of this surprises me.

Blair acted very much as though he was the rightful heir to the throne, and Gordon Brown was the Pretender.

And once Brown did take over, Blair seemed to want him to fail, even if it meant the Tories winning.