Damning: Former Labour chief Peter Watt reveals all in his memoirs Gordon Brown is facing a new crisis after the man who once ran the Labour Party launched a devastating attack on his leadership and backed calls for him to step down. Former Labour General Secretary Peter Watt said Mr Brown was not fit to be Prime Minister, had reduced No 10 to a shambles and was derided even by some of his closest Cabinet allies. Mr Watt’s bombshell allegations come just four days after a bid to oust Mr Brown led by ex-Ministers Patricia Hewitt and Geoff Hoon. And they come on the day that Mr Brown revealed that nothing would force him to quit and he dismissed the attempted coup as 'silliness'. In an interview in the News of the World Mr Brown also said that Nelson Mandela's favourite poem in which the author says that his 'head is bloody but I remain unbowed' had inspired him. But Mr Watt paid tribute to the ‘bravery’ of those rebels last night and urged Mr Brown to make way for a new leader ‘for the sake of Labour’. But he denies the publication of his memoirs, serialised in today’s Mail on Sunday, is part of a carefully timed ‘second wave’ assault on the Prime Minister. Mr Watt's attack comes as a new poll in today's Sunday Telegraph gave Labour supporters some cause for comfort, suggesting the Tories still only enjoyed a 10-point lead. The ICM survey found that the Tories had flatlined at 40 per cent while Labour was up one on 30 per cent, despite the recent bout iof in-fighting. The Liberal Democrats were down one on 18 per cent. However, Mr Watt's damaging charges of tantrums, treachery, cowardice and incompetence by Mr Brown are bound to raise doubts as to whether he can survive until the General Election, due by June 3. The behind-the-scenes account is unprecedented. Mr Watts is the first general secretary to write his memoirs, as the most senior officials in all main parties customarily observe a strict and permanent code of silence about controversial events during their term of office. Those described by Mr Watt occurred just two years ago. Moreover, nearly all the leading figures named and shamed in his book, Inside Out: My Story Of Betrayal And Cowardice At The Heart Of New Labour, are still in office. In his book, Mr Watt, who resigned as Labour general secretary in 2007, claims: Mr Watt also reveals for the first time the inside story of the ‘Donorgate’ scandal which led to his resignation when The Mail on Sunday exposed how tycoon David Abrahams had secretly given £600,000 to Labour in other people’s names, in breach of electoral laws. Mr Watt claims the scandal was not his fault and alleges Mr Brown ‘stabbed him in the back’ by pledging to stand by him, hours before branding him a criminal in public. In the book, he writes: ‘“Ha bloody ha,” I thought. The PM has just publicly called me a criminal. Why doesn’t he just ring the Met himself? 'No10 badly wanted me charged, since it would cement their politically expedient characterisation of me as a renegade.’ Last year, the Crown Prosecution Service ruled there would be no charges against Mr Watt. His book provides a damning insight into the on-off Election fiasco of autumn 2007, when Mr Brown had planned to use his political honeymoon after taking over from Tony Blair to call a snap poll but changed his mind at the last minute. Mr Watt claims International Aid Minister Douglas Alexander, one of Mr Brown’s closest allies, told him one reason for wanting an early poll: ‘The truth is, Peter, we have spent ten years working with this guy, and we don’t actually like him. 'We have always thought the longer the British public had to get to know him, the less they would like him as well.’ Mr Watt said Mr Alexander used those words, or ‘very similar’, adding: ‘The sentiment was repeated many times [by] senior Labour figures.’ Seat of power: Mr Watt, left, takes his parents, Sandra and David, to No 10 while Tony Blair was Prime Minister He also reveals the chaos caused when Mr Brown made his U-turn on the Election during a TV interview. ‘As he spoke, the fleet of limousines ordered at No10’s behest was circling Parliament Square. 'They had come . . . to collect Ministers and whisk them off on the campaign trail. They were sent away on a pretext, to spare us the humiliation of anyone spotting them lined up outside our offices. ‘We had already spent £1.2million. Somewhere in a mail depot were hundreds of sacks of personalised letters to voters in marginal seats – 1.5million envelopes waiting to go.’ Mr Alexander berated Climate Change Minister Ed Miliband for failing to prepare a manifesto. Mr Watts says Mr Alexander complained: ‘You’d imagine that after ten years of waiting, and ten years complaining about Tony, we would have some idea of what we are going to do but we don’t seem to have any policies.’ Mr Watt was less than complimentary about Prime Minister Gordon Brown's style of government Mr Watt paints a withering portrait of Mr Brown’s style of government. ‘Downing Street was a shambles. There was no vision, no strategy, no co-ordination. 'It was completely dysfunctional. Gordon had been so desperate to become Prime Minister that we all assumed he knew what he was going to do when he got there. ‘I imagined there was some grand plan, tucked away in a drawer. But if any such document existed, nobody seemed to know about it. Gordon was simply making it up as he went along.’ Mr Watt also highlights Mr Brown’s ‘weird’ behaviour. He recalls the moment the Prime Minister threw a tantrum at a No10 dinner party for US Democrat politicians after guests sat down without his permission. Mr Watt said: ‘For the rest of the meal he was monosyllabic, sulking because he had lost control of the seating plan. 'The plates had not even been cleared when quite suddenly, without saying anything, he just got up and left. “He’s bonkers,” Vilma [Mr Watt’s wife] whispered. She was right.’ In an interview with The Mail on Sunday, Mr Watt said Labour’s best chance of avoiding Election disaster is to get rid of Mr Brown. ‘It was very brave of Geoff Hoon and Pat Hewitt to put their heads above the parapet,’ he said. ‘Labour should have replaced Gordon six months ago. We have to have this out – and fast. 'It’s true that divided parties don’t win Elections, but leaders as unpopular as Gordon Brown don’t win them either.’ Blairite Mr Watt said it was nonsense for Mr Brown’s camp to claim there were no alternative leaders. ‘David and Ed Miliband, Alan Johnson, James Purnell and Andy Burnham all have great potential,’ he said. ‘Gordon is a big political figure but he lacks the emotional intelligence required by a modern leader. 'If you cannot connect to people you will fail. Gordon just doesn’t have those skills.' Mr Watt remains bitter at the way he was treated by Mr Brown and Deputy Leader Harriet Harman over ‘Donorgate’. He said: ‘A political decision was taken to circle the wagons – with me on the outside – to deflect the arrows coming Gordon and Harriet’s way.’ He added: ‘When Gordon became leader, nobody ever stopped to ask could he actually do the job. 'He soon defined himself as remote and a ditherer who was not up to the job. ‘Like everyone in the party I had great hopes for Gordon. 'But it quickly became apparent he had no plans, and it descended into shambles.’Brown's election shambles: Man who ran Labour Party reveals chaos at No 10 in devastating new book
Last updated at 9:19 AM on 10th January 2010
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Sunday, 10 January 2010
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