❓Do reports of a growing rivalry between Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak sound familiar?
It's because we had more than a decade of festering resentment between the Treasury and No 10 when Blair and Brown were at the pinnacle of British politics🧵👇
telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/…
It's because we had more than a decade of festering resentment between the Treasury and No 10 when Blair and Brown were at the pinnacle of British politics🧵👇
telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/…
It is easy to dismiss reports of disquiet between the two centres of power as Whitehall tittle-tattle.
❌Yet the relationship between the prime minister and their chancellor is the very hinge a government rests on – and if it fully breaks down, the government cannot last long
❌Yet the relationship between the prime minister and their chancellor is the very hinge a government rests on – and if it fully breaks down, the government cannot last long
✍️In the case of the TB-GBs, as the Blair-Brown years were dubbed, the root cause of the tension was ambition, writes Jon Davis
➡️As former defence secretary John Reid puts it, it was a story as old as the hills: the prince couldn’t wait for the king to die
At the outset, Gordon Brown had been the senior figure.
🗣️When Tony Blair proved the better communicator, and took the crown from him, he compensated by demanding unprecedented power over social and economic policy
🗣️When Tony Blair proved the better communicator, and took the crown from him, he compensated by demanding unprecedented power over social and economic policy
🔴So jealous of his perceived terrain was Brown that at one point in 2000, when Blair went on TV to announce Britain would reach the European average for health spending, Brown stormed into No 10, shouting:
“You’ve stolen my f---ing Budget!”
“You’ve stolen my f---ing Budget!”
✍️Blair’s former chief of staff, Jonathan Powell, relates in his memoir how Brown became increasingly secretive.
Blair was so in the dark about the public finances that ahead of one statement, he resorted to begging, only half-joking: “Go on, Gordon – give us a hint”
Blair was so in the dark about the public finances that ahead of one statement, he resorted to begging, only half-joking: “Go on, Gordon – give us a hint”
What makes this current period so tantalising, says Jon Davis, is Johnson’s present “partygate” troubles...
...and the question of whether his Chancellor will seize the opportunity to move against him
Read the full story👇
telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/…
...and the question of whether his Chancellor will seize the opportunity to move against him
Read the full story👇
telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/…
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