The Wilted Rose

In The Times, Cherie Blair has some interesting comments about Brown:

— Demolishes the myth of the Granita pact. It has always been suggested that Mr Blair and Mr Brown struck a deal over the leadership in the Islington restaurant of that name. In fact, the discussions took place in a neighbour’s home days earlier, she says;

— Reveals that she told Mr Blair in 1994 that it would be “ridiculous” that he should agree with Mr Brown to have only one term as leader;

— Reveals that Mr Blair used to tell Mr Brown that if he wanted to be leader that he needed to get married;

— Discloses her fury with Mr Brown after he told ministers at Labour’s first Cabinet meeting in 1997 not to take a 26 per cent pay rise. “How dare Gordon do that? What did he know about financial commitments? He was a bachelor living on his own in a flat with a small mortgage”.

What a shambles.