Writing in The Sunday Times, Harman says: “We have to address the widespread perception that we do not listen. People no longer accept that foreign policy can be left to the prime minister and the Queen, ambassadors and diplomats.”
Challenged yesterday on his support for President George Bush in the Middle East, Blair said: “I don’t think it has ever been a mistake to stand shoulder to shoulder with America in the aftermath of 9/11.”
The fragility of Blair’s position has been underlined by a new poll for The Sunday Times that shows the prime minister is significantly more unpopular than Lady Thatcher was at the same stage of her career, nearly 10 years after taking office.
The Ipsos MORI political monitor shows that 66% of people are dissatisfied with Blair’s performance as prime minister, with only 26% satisfied. It does not, however, bring good news for Brown either, showing a 13-point drop in the chancellor’s trustworthiness rating since April, far worse than the two-point drop for Blair.
Meanwhile, cabinet ministers revealed Blair last week refused Brown’s demands to endorse him publicly as his successor. One said Brown had asked Blair to “guarantee that I can have a clear run at the leadership”, but Blair replied: “I can’t do that, I can’t stop people standing.”
To add to the mutual suspicion, the Brown camp believes Blair wants a rival such as John Reid, Alan Johnson or Alan Milburn to stand against the chancellor in the leadership contest.
Yesterday members of Blair’s inner circle continued to make personal attacks on Brown and signalled that there would not be a clear run for him as the next leader.
Last night the Observer newspaper claimed that up to 10 cabinet ministers were discussing backing an “anyone but Gordon” candidate.
Cherie Blair is said to have urged her husband to resist the chancellor’s demands. According to one friend, she told Blair to fight on and that she would be “gutted” if Brown won.
A Blair adviser claimed that in his meetings with the prime minister last week Brown had referred to the letter plotters as just the “first wave of my troops”, although this is denied by the Brown camp.
Another close aide of Blair said: “Anyone but Brown would suit Tony. He thinks the way Brown has behaved is disgraceful. He could have waited another year and it all would have been smooth but now look at what has happened.
“Blair does not think Brown can beat [David] Cameron . . . Tony wants to exit in his own time — he doesn’t want this f***** to see him out. That is absolutely not going to happen.”
A Blairite MP said: “Gordon has whetted the appetite for a proper leadership contest. Who now speaks of a coronation [for Brown]? Charles Clarke has done us a service by saying in public what many people have been saying in private.”
Yesterday morning, Blair told a conference of Progress, a new Labour think tank, that continued sniping could cost the party the next election. “We are not going to win if we have personal attacks by anybody on anyone, because it turns the public off and makes them think we are interested again in ourselves and not in them.”
Additional reporting: Isabel Oakeshott, Jerusalem; Robert Winnett; Judith O’Reilly