Blair dismisses claims of rift with Brown

Prime Minister Tony Blair has dismissed reports of a rift between himself and Chancellor Gordon Brown.

Speaking to Sky News, the Prime Minister claimed that the story was in the same category as April Fool's stories, which had reported that he was planning to paint the Downing Street door red. He said: "The important thing is - there is the soap opera politics - the important thing is to get on with the job."

The comments came after newspaper reports claimed that Mr Brown would not be at the launch of Labour's local election campaign on Wednesday and would be attending a regional event in West Sussex instead. Claims that it was a deliberate snub were denied by Downing Street, which said that the Chancellor had requested to change the event, because he had been scheduled to fly to New York to attend a United Nations event.

The trip has now been postponed and it is now believed that the Chancellor will attend the launch on Wednesday.

However, Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain has told Sky News of "tensions" between Mr Blair and Mr Brown.

There have also been claims that Mr Brown had been undermining the Labour party's chances in the local elections, for example, by not including a council tax rebate in the recent Budget, in order to hasten the Prime Minister's departure from Downing Street.

Mr Blair had said that he would step down as Prime Minister before the next General Election. However, during his recent trip to Australia, the Prime Minister said that the statement had been "an unusual thing" thing for him to say and said that it may have been a mistake.

(KMcA)