Uneasy relationship

Tony Blair is set to run for a third term despite the presence of a brooding chancellor in Downing Street, a senior Labour figure predicted on Sunday.

Lord Hattersley, Labour's former deputy leader, said Blair will dismiss Gordon Brown's feelings and go for "three in a row".

"I would be surprised if Tony Blair's decision about continuing the premiership and leadership was determined by his views on Gordon's emotions and feelings,'' said Hattersley.

Such a move would contradict claims that Blair did a deal with Brown to stand aside before a third election in exchange for the chancellor not standing for the leadership following the death of John Smith in 1994.

"If I were him I would certainly go on for a third election, I think if I were him I might go on for a fourth and a fifth," he said.

Hattersley predicts that Blair will win the next election, hold a snap referendum on the euro before resigning "six or seven months" into the new parliament.

"I'd like to see that anyway, for economic and political reasons, but I think it's very important for his place in history," he told the GMTV Sunday programme.