Damaging memoirs come in threes for PM

While Gordon Brown must be sick of hearing the extracts from three different sets of memoirs detailing his fractious relationship with Tony Blair, at least his old foes are getting the revelations out of the way in one fell swoop. The autobiographies of Lord Levy, Cherie Blair and John Prescott all contain memories of the Blair-Brown saga, ranging from awkward to embarrassing to damaging.

In her book Speaking For Myself, Cherie Blair accuses Brown of "rattling the keys" of Downing Street over her husband's head. She claims Brown was trying to force Blair out of office as long ago as 2004. Most damagingly, she claims Blair would have left office sooner but because Brown refused to implement essential reforms of schools and hospitals, he stood fast. "Tony would have stood down, there is no question," she writes. "Instead of which, Tony felt he had no option but to stay on and fight for the things he believed in."

Tony Blair's former fundraiser Lord Levy, who has already revealed that Blair doesn't think Brown can defeat David Cameron in a general election (though Cherie Blair denies this, the subject of another row), claims that Brown, contrary to what he says, must have known about the secret loans made to the Labour Party before the last election that led to the "cash for honours" scandal. Speaking to Andrew Marr on BBC television on Sunday, Levy said it would be "very strange the person leading the election campaign" not to know.

To make matters worse, Levy says Brown should consider standing down. During the course of the Marr interview, discussing his biography, A Question of Honour, the peer said: "That's a question that Gordon needs to reflect on, his cabinet need to reflect on and the Labour Party and its hierarchy and members of the commons need to reflect on."

Meanwhile former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, in his memoirs Prezza – My Story, accuses Brown of being "frustrating, annoying, bewildering and prickly" and tells of the various times he urged Brown to resign to the backbenches and fight Blair from there. On the other hand, he also told Blair to sack his then Chancellor because of the volcanic rows between the two men.