Blair 'slams' Brown in leaked memo

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In a secret memo, obtained by the Mail on Sunday newspaper, the former premier accused Mr Brown of making a "fatal" mistake by repudiating Mr Blair's record in Labour's first decade in power.

Mr Blair claimed that Conservative leader David Cameron was "in trouble" before he left Downing Street last June, but that Mr Brown's "lamentable" strategy has allowed the Tories to present themselves as the party of the future.

In trying to distance himself from the Blair era by renouncing "spin" and promising to be honest, Mr Brown "dissed our own record" and effectively accepted Tory propaganda, warned the memo.

The emergence of the document will increase pressure on the embattled Prime Minister as he draws up a strategy to lift Labour from its lowest trough in the polls for a generation.

It comes just days after Blair protege David Miliband sparked renewed speculation about Mr Brown's position with a newspaper article which set out a vision for Labour's future without once mentioning the Prime Minister.

A spokesman for Mr Blair's office declined to say whether the memo was genuine, saying only: "Tony Blair continues to be 100% supportive of Gordon Brown and the Government."

Referring to himself as "TB", Mr Brown as "GB" and New Labour as "NL", Mr Blair argued that Mr Brown had a choice between presenting himself as representing a break from his predecessor or saying he would build on his achievements.

And he said that Mr Brown "junked the TB policy agenda but had nothing to put in its place".

According to the Mail on Sunday, the memo was written last autumn, after a conference season which saw Mr Brown back away from a snap General Election following a sudden shift in the polls in the Tories' favour.