BRITAIN: Gordon Brown sought to calm Labour's leadership turmoil and mend fences yesterday with a declaration of his continuing and unending friendship with the man he would replace as British prime minister, Tony Blair.
During a Sky television interview in which a tearful chancellor also spoke of the dreadful moment his baby daughter died in his arms at just 10-days-old, Mr Brown acknowledged that his friendship with Mr Blair had had its "ups and downs." However, he insisted it theirs' was "one of the strongest political relationships in history.
Heaping lavish praise on Mr Blair for his achievements in terms of education, health, employment and economic stability - as well as in Northern Ireland, where he believed there would be more progress in the coming months - Mr Brown declared: "Tony Blair has been a wonderful leader for the Labour Party and I think over the 23 years I have known Tony, this has been one of the strongest political relationships in history.
"I think Tony Blair has led the country with a tremendous amount of ability, skill, acumen and sensitivity to what the British people want to see done."
It is widely believed the relationship between the two men reached a bitter new low last week during a furious row over the chancellor's pressure for a timetable for the prime minister's departure from Downing Street.
But when asked if Mr Blair was still his friend, Mr Brown insisted: "Yes, and he will always be my friend."
Mr Blair's official spokesman said they were "aware of the content" of Mr Brown's interview. Asked if Mr Blair shared Mr Brown's view that they would remain forever friends, the spokesman gave the terse reply: "Of course."
Friendship was otherwise the theme of the day, as Mr Blair ordered the first post-summer cabinet to focus on the task of governing the country. The man tipped to serve as chancellor in a Brown cabinet, Alistair Darling, said they were all very determined to get on with the business of government after a "businesslike" cabinet meeting which dealt with domestic issues as well as the Middle East and Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, former US president Bill Clinton has given powerful backing to Mr Brown, describing him as having been "a great chancellor of the exchequer" who would make "a good prime minister."
In an interview in The Spectator, Mr Clinton urged Mr Blair and Mr Brown "to stay together, to decide what to do and keep the Labour Party together." And he asserted: "The political difficulties of the moment should not obscure for the British people the fact that this government has been good for their country." Meanwhile, the contest to become Labour's new deputy leader is proving difficult to contain, with Jack Straw and Harriet Harman expected to join Peter Hain and Alan Johnson in the race to succeed John Prescott.