Bicycle banter sparks Blair-Brown feud

Tony Blair's most senior aide was embroiled in a spectacular row today after he was quoted as saying Gordon Brown was "never going to be Prime Minister". The extraordinary remarks by Mr Blair's chief of staff Jonathan Powell threatened to plunge the Government into a fresh round of infighting and reopen the fraught question of the succession to No10.

Downing Street was forced into a hasty damage-limitation exercise, claiming that Mr Powell was merely engaging in "banter" and had been misquoted.

The comments, reported in today's Spectator magazine, were alleged to have been made to its editor and Tory MP Boris Johnson at a chance meeting with Mr Powell in Pall Mall as they waited on their bicycles for the traffic lights to turn green.

Mr Powell also suggested that Mr Blair would lead the Government for full third term and described the Chancellor's long-held desire to become premier as "a Shakespearean tragedy".

"Gordon Brown is like the guy who thinks he's going to be king but never gets it. He's never going to be Prime Minister," Mr Powell is quoted as saying. When the Tory MP asked why Downing Street would not clear up its position by stating that Mr Blair would serve for a full third term, Mr Powell is said to have replied: "I've advised him that he should be frank with the people and tell them that if elected he can't commit to serving a full fourth term."

Mr Johnson stuck by his account, but Downing Street said Mr Powell had been misquoted. "Jonathan didn't say what he was alleged to have said. There was some banter," a senior aide said. "The last person Jonathan is going to talk to about this is Boris Johnson."

Mr Johnson alleged that Mr Powell said "you could never get a Scottish Prime Minister". But it is understood that although he expressed his view that Mr Brown had little chance of becoming premier, he did not make any reference to him being Scottish.

One Government insider stressed that Mr Powell's remarks were in no way a reflection of Mr Blair's own thinking and showed how out of step the chief of staff was with others in Downing Street. While No 10 attempted to

make light of the incident, the comments stunned MPs and the Tories seized on them as proof of the "dysfunctional" relationship between Mr Blair and his Chancellor.

Mr Brown agreed not to stand against his rival for the Labour Party leadership 10 years ago after John Smith's death. Under the alleged pact struck at Islington's Granita restaurant, Mr Blair is said to have suggested he would make way for Mr Brown in his second term. Since then, the two men have had a fraught relationship. But in recent months it appeared they had come to an understanding that Mr Blair would step aside in 2007 if Labour wins the next general election.