Blair 'had to treat Brown like a surly adolescent son'

The then Chancellor was surly, uncooperative and "glared and growled" at Mr Blair during discussions about radical welfare reforms, it claims.

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During the film, which features behind-the-scenes footage from his final days at No 10, Mr Blair also boasts he could have stayed in power for longer if he had wanted.

He admits he secretly planned to break up the Treasury after the last election - scuppering Mr Brown's power base - and claims he was unconcerned by his rival plotting against him.

The three-part BBC documentary, called The Blair Years, lifts the lid on the pair's turbulent relationship during Mr Blair's ten years in power. In one part, former welfare minister Frank Field explains how Mr Blair and Mr Brown clashed over reforming the system.

He says: "There was this extraordinary tension between them.

"The PM was incredibly gentle with the Chancellor but there was no give at all. One wondered, how do you put up with it and at what point do you sack him?

"The Chancellor just glared and growled across the table. The PM behaved as though he was looking after an adolescent son going through a bad patch."

Discussing his relationship with Mr Brown, Mr Blair himself admits: "It's true, no point being silly about it, there were tensions."

But Mr Blair plays down suggestions he had been forced out in June by the "Brownites", saying: "It's not that I couldn't have gone on a little longer, I probably could."

The programme also claims Mr Brown's allies plotted against Mr Blair over university top-up fees.

During the revolt in 2003 - which Labour won by just five votes - Ed Balls, one of Mr Brown's closest advisers, is said to have urged MPs to rebel to bring down Mr Blair.

Left-wing Labour MP Ian Gibson reveals how Mr Balls - now Schools Secretary - told him to step up the fight against the fees.

He says: "I met Ed and he said, 'Gosh, you've been on the TV and radio a lot recently on the issue, keep going, excellent'."

Mr Brown refused to talk to the BBC for the programme.

• The first instalment of The Blair Years will be shown on BBC1 on Sunday, November 18, at 10.15pm.