Leading rebel defiant on top-up fees

Labour's leading rebel over student top-up fees today sent a defiant message to Tony Blair that he would not back down.

Former Government chief whip Nick Brown denied claims of a "broader political agenda" behind his pledge to vote against his party for the first time in 20 years.

Despite being sacked from the Government by Mr Blair, he said he did not have a grudge.

A close ally of Gordon Brown, he has been accused of fighting a covert war on behalf of the Chancellor to inflict a serious blow on the Prime Minister.

But he told The Times today that the Chancellor had on a number of occasions tried "pretty vigorously" to get him to abandon his opposition.