John Prescott called Tony Blair a 'little s***' after he 'betrayed' Brown by refusing to step down from power

The former deputy premier's autobiography also lifts the lid on the bitter infighting as relations between Mr Blair and Gordon Brown reached breaking point.

Mr Prescott, 69, even accuses the former prime minister of betraying Mr Brown by going back on a promise to step down.

His account of his time at the centre of power paints a damning picture of Mr Blair and his chancellor clashing repeatedly in their attempts to safeguard their legacies.

The frostiness even extended to their wives, with Mr Prescott accusing Cherie Blair of "pettiness" for allegedly refusing to greet Sarah Brown with a kiss at a reception.

The Hull East MP's revelations in his autobiography Prezza: My Story: Pulling No Punches come days after he confessed to suffering from bulimia while at Westminster.

He said it was his way of coping with stress.

Mr Prescott has reportedly been paid £500,000 for the reminiscences, which are being ghost-written by Hunter Davies.

The book will be published in June.

According to leaks to the Labour-supporting Daily Mirror, the book claims Mr Blair and Mr Brown engaged in a tit-for-tat battle for supremacy.

The then prime minister kept his chancellor in the dark about Cabinet reshuffles.

In return, Mr Brown kept secret the Budget proposals he was planning.

In his role as peacemaker, Mr Prescott attended a string of meetings between the two to discuss the handover of power.

He says Mr Blair's decision to "renege on a promise" to step down as leader in favour of Mr Brown was a "betrayal".

It was "most to blame" for the chancellor pulling up the drawbridge and refusing to co-operate with the premier.

Referring to one shouting match over controversial policies on academy schools and foundation hospitals, Mr Prescott claims he needed earplugs to block out Mr Blair's shouts.

Mr Prescott, who will stand down as an MP at the next election, also tells of more comical encounters, including the time the then chancellor insisted on having a larger chair at a peace-making dinner.

Mr Blair reportedly said: "I'm used to Gordon looking down on me."

Mr Prescott, a former ship's steward who has been an MP for 38 years, admits his own relationship with Mr Blair was not all sweetness and light.

On one particularly stormy occasion he told the premier to his face: "Look, you little s***".

Mr Prescott's memoirs of life at the heart of the most successful Labour government ever follow the publication last summer of the £1million diaries of Alastair Campbell, Mr Blair's former director of communications.

Mr Blair himself has signed a lucrative deal which could earn him as much as £6million to write his Downing Street memoirs for publisher Random House.

Few details of his relationship with Mr Brown are expected to be spared.

His wife Cherie has already earned a reputed £1.5million for her life story, to be published in October, which also dishes the dirt on the former Chancellor.

Lord Levy, Mr Blair's controversial former fundraiser, will tell the inside story of the cash-for-honours row in his autobiography.