'Cruel Blairs left Leo's pram out on purpose, said bereaved Brown'

Extraordinary new claims about Gordon Brown's distrust of Tony and Cherie Blair and his "paranoia" were made in a book published today.

It was alleged the then-Chancellor believed the couple deliberately left their baby's pram in his view to remind him of the baby daughter he lost.

"Tony and Cherie are so cruel to me," he was quoted as telling a colleague as he and wife Sarah were grieving over the death of Jennifer, who died at 10 days in 2002.

The claim is made in Andrew Rawnsley's book, The End Of The Party. He claims that despite Mr Blair and Mr Brown feeling close to each other at Jennifer's funeral, their relationship quickly deteriorated.

Rawnsley writes: "The Blairs lived in the flat above No 11. They would leave little Leo's pram parked outside the flat door, where it was visible to the Browns." He allegedly nursed this grievance for years. "Brown would continue to rage about the Blairs' 'cruel treatment' of him and his wife, bringing it up with one minister a full five years later." According to Rawnsley, Mr Brown was apparently convinced that the Blairs used the pram "to deliberately remind him that the Blairs had what was tragically taken from him".

The claim was dismissed as "complete nonsense" by allies of the Prime Minister. A No 10 official claimed in response: "Over the past two weeks we have seen every one of Andrew Rawnsley's furious and malicious allegations unravel." The book was published after two weeks of serialised extracts detailing feuding between Mr Blair and Mr Brown as well as volcanic outbursts by the Prime Minister. It is also alleged that the Cabinet Secretary vetoed Mrs Blair billing the taxpayer for hairdressing and clothes.

The book quotes former mayor Ken Livingstone talking about a possible terror attack which "decapitates" London government. This includes a situation where the Prime Minister is away, the Mayor is killed and Scotland Yard demolished.