The British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr Gordon Brown, last night fought back from the most serious crisis of his career, denying he had lied over the Ecclestone affair, refusing to back down in the face of fuel protests and dismissing suggestions of a rift between himself and Mr Blair.
After days of criticism, Mr Brown appeared on Channel 4 News to describe stories about him as "gossip" and "tittle-tattle".
Challenged on his role in the Ecclestone affair and whether he had lied about knowing about the £1 million donation, he acknowledged he had been told by Mr Blair that it was a "sizeable" donation.
But he said Mr Blair had asked him for advice only on "procedure" and he had told the Prime Minister he could not get involved in the details of a party political donation.
"I don't see lists of donations. I think there should be a dividing line between those who make financial decisions like the Chancellor and the Shadow Chancellor and those who deal with the party finances."
He added: "I knew it was a sizeable donation, we did not talk about the details of the finances, what we did talk about was the procedure."
Asked if he had lied about the donation on BBC Radio 4's Today, he said: "I did not lie and I would not lie." The Tories, however, were not satisfied and repeated calls for him to resign or be sacked.