Go easy on Gordon, Cameron tells Tories in bid for 'more statesmanlike' image

The Tory leader believes voters have made up their minds about Mr Brown after a disastrous year.

Sources close to Mr Cameron said he would adopt a more 'statesmanlike' approach amid fears that a continued onslaught against Mr Brown could prompt Labour MPs to ditch him.

The Prime Minister is braced for humiliation in the Henley by-election today, with speculation that Labour may get less than five per cent of the vote and lose its deposit. Its support there fell so low yesterday, it risked being beaten into fourth place by the Greens. In 2005, Labour gained a 15 per cent share in the safe Tory seat.

A poll this week found 74 per cent of voters think Mr Brown has been worse than Tony Blair. Just 24 per cent think Labour can win the next election under him.

Shadow ministers say that with the Tories 20 points ahead, they can afford to 'take the heat off' Mr Brown and generate positive enthusiasm for Tory policies.

'David has got the measure of Brown,' said one. 'Why would we risk going up against someone who's as easy in their own skin and as persuasive and charming as Alan Johnson instead?'

Mr Cameron surprised observers by appearing to pull his punches with Mr Brown at Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons recently.

He has focused on heavyweight foreign policy issues such as the crisis in Zimbabwe.

'This isn't about complacency,' a source close to Mr Cameron said. 'People will make up their own minds about Gordon Brown and probably already have.

'That's not necessarily down to anything we can say or do. Of course it's not the case that we won't attack Brown when we need to, but David has got to look statesmanlike.'

Speculation that Mr Cameron is holding back will anger ministers, who have seen a glimmer of hope in Mr Brown's improved performances recently. But it may dismay Tories who think he must not get any breathing room.

Last week Tory HQ raised eyebrows by releasing a document on Mr Brown's first year, including pictures of him with orange make-up on his head, playing an ungainly game of tennis and getting into a tangle shaking hands with President George Bush.

It also recycled gossip about him smashing phones in a fury and breaking into his own office.

Tory culture spokesman Jeremy Hunt said the Tories would move away from personal attacks on the Prime Minister as he entered his second year at No10.

He added: 'Gordon Brown's personality has become the central issue of British politics. But that doesn't mean the Conservative Party has to tell the country that. It's totally apparent.

'We need to put forward a positive alternative so people choose us because they want a different future, not because they are sick of the Prime Minister.'

Mr Brown is said to be determined to ignore the milestone of 12 months at Number Ten. But the event and the poor result in Henley may trigger fresh soulsearching about his leadership.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who is tipped as a possible replacement, refused to confirm or deny his ambitions.

'I am not going to go there,' he said. 'I am utterly determined to be a very good Foreign Secretary in a Gordon Brown government.'

£500,000 cost of the Brown-Blair rift

Gordon Brown's clear-out of special advisers after he took over from Tony Blair cost taxpayers more than £500,000, it was revealed last night.

Nineteen of Mr Blair's advisers left Downing Street last June with pay-offs averaging nearly £29,000 because Mr Brown could not work with the allies of his political enemy. Instead he brought in his own staff from the Treasury.

The revelation of the true cost of the rift between the two men comes as Mr Brown celebrates his first year in power today.

It was revealed after persistent Freedom of Information requests by the Liberal Democrat frontbencher Norman Lamb.

The Cabinet Office originally turned down Mr Lamb's request for details of severance payments on 24 July last year. But Mr Lamb appealed last September and earlier this week officials finally relented.

The Cabinet Office said £543,896.54 was spent on severance payments to Mr Blair's special advisers - an average of almost £29,000 each.

They included communications chiefs David Hill and Matthew Doyle, and health adviser Paul Corrigan.

Last night Mr Lamb said: 'This huge figure demonstrates the extraordinary cost of the gulf between Brown and Blair.'

The full cost could be close to £1million, as the figures only include No10 special advisors. When Mr Brown took over, a number of Blairite ministers such as Patricia Hewitt and John Reid left their jobs - taking special advisers with them.

There are now 68 special advisers across Whitehall, earning up to £137,400 each.