Brown pleads for Blair's help

If Labour do win a fourth term, Andrew Rawnsley’s book will have to be renamed, ‘The Party Goes On and On’.

On page 655 of this endurance test, there are details of a phone call between Brown and Blair.  It took place on the night when members of the AJ4PM committee almost became national heroes.

After James Purnell resigned:

Brown rang Tony Blair for advice and asked his predecessor to intervene with Blairites to prevent them from resigning.  Brown, who had used a coup to push out Blair, had been reduced to pleading for Blair’s help to protect him from a coup.  The irony was not lost on the other man.