Labour MPs give Blair, Brown a 'scorching' over rivalry

Backbench Labour MPs gave both men a dressing down at a closed-door meeting late Monday, at which Blair appealed for unity while the chancellor of the exchequer -- who Tuesday embarks on a week-long tour of Africa -- kept quiet.

"Tony Blair and Gordon Brown both had a scorching," said Labour MP Paul Flynn after the meeting. "It was a Parliamentary Labour Party meeting like no other."

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott conceded Tuesday: "The troops are saying to the leaders: 'Get in line'."

Fresh speculation of a breakdown in trust emerged at the weekend, as a new book claimed that Blair repeatedly told Brown last year that he would step down and give him the keys to Downing Street -- and then changed his mind.

"There is nothing that you could ever say to me now that I could ever believe," a frustrated Brown reportedly told Blair, according to "Brown's Britain" by journalist Robert Peston.

The main opposition Conservative Party, always keen to portray Blair as untrustworthy, was quick to jump on that quote, saying it plans to use it in its campaign literature.