Gordon Brown used a ‘secret stash’ of Labour Party funds of tens of thousands of pounds to finance his campaign to oust Tony Blair as Prime Minister, it was claimed last night. The allegation is contained in the bombshell memoirs of the former Labour general secretary Peter Watt, which are being serialised in The Mail on Sunday. In the latest extracts from the book, Mr Watt says Mr Brown demanded – and got – his own pot of money within Labour’s coffers. 'Fund with no name': Peter Watt (right) claims Gordon brown had a secret stash of Labour funds, which he used to oust Tony Blair Officials called it ‘the fund with no name’ and the only record of how much he spent was kept in an exercise book. It was never referred to in Labour’s accounts. Mr Brown carried on drawing money even when Labour was forced to axe staff because it was millions of pounds in the red. Mr Watt says Mr Brown used up to £50,000-a-year of Labour money to pay for private polling but refused to share the results with the rest of the Labour Party. Mr Watt believes that was because it was part of his campaign to replace Mr Blair as leader. ‘I never asked for more detail, so I don’t know if that polling was to inform Budget decisions, or his long campaign to become party leader,’ writes Mr Watt. ‘Technically, there was nothing improper about it, but it always seemed strange that he should have his own stash of cash.’ Mr Watt says that whenever Mr Brown’s fund dipped, his school friend and political ally, Labour peer Murray Elder, would top it up with donations from supporters. Mr Watt says Mr Brown wanted the cash for his own polls because he did not trust those carried out for Mr Blair. ‘It drove me insane,’ Mr Watt said yesterday. ‘We had to pay for two sets of polls because Gordon and Tony didn’t trust each other. 'Gordon was a law unto himself. No matter how little money we had he would demand his money. Some of it was for polls on the Budget but he never shared it with us.We suspected the polls asked questions about him and Tony.’ Mr Watt said Mr Brown had not broken any rules on personal donations because technically the money was being used for the Labour Party. When he became Labour’s financial director, Mr Watt insisted on getting rid of the exercise book and made a formal record of Mr Brown’s fund. A Labour official said last night: ‘There was nothing improper about this. The money was mainly used for polling on Labour’s electoral message. It was funded through donations to the Party.’ Today’s extracts also reveal: Mr Watt recalls how tensions between the two boiled over in 2006 during the ‘loans for peerages’ row. He writes: ‘Rumours swirled in No10 of a furious bust-up between the Chancellor and the Prime Minister.“I’ll bring you down with sleaze,” the Chancellor was said to have yelled.’ They clashed again as Mr Brown’s allies tried to oust Mr Blair later the same year. 'Gordon scowled: “You can never get a straight answer out of Tony,” writes Mr Watt. When Mr Watt asked Mr Blair why Mr Brown conspired against him, Mr Blair replied: ‘It’s just Gordon. He can’t stop himself. He always has to push, push, push.’ Inner circle: Peter Watt (centre) with Tony Blair talks to a party official at Labour HQ in May 2007 Mr Watt claims Mr Brown tried to sabotage his opponents by banning anyone from the leadership contest unless they had the declared support of 45 Labour MPs. In practice, says Mr Watt, this would have killed off all his rivals because they would have struggled to make the starting line. ‘It was a blatant attempt to sew-up the contest,’ says Mr Watt. Mr Brown was aghast when Mr Watt broke the shock news to him that Left-winger Ms Harman had won the deputy leadership race in June 2007. Mr Watt recalls: ‘His face fell. There was a long pause. Then he put his hands on my shoulders, and said, “It will be all right. We’ll make it all right.” Mr Blair responded with a ‘sharp intake of breath.’ And Mr Watt accuses the pair of behaving ‘like children’ when Mr Brown finally became leader. Mr Blair refused to remain on the stage at a public handover ceremony while a video of Mr Brown was shown. ‘I’m just not doing it,’ he said. Later, Mr Brown threw a tantrum when Mr Blair announced that he wanted to stay on to take part in a final Prime Minister’s question time in the Commons the following weekSecrets of Gordon Brown’s 'Fund With No Name' to oust Tony Blair as PM
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1243837/Secrets-Gordon-Brown-s-Fund-With-No-Name-oust-Tony-Blair-PM.html#ixzz0cpBEIE6X
Sunday, 17 January 2010
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