Senior Labour figures have sought to halt the fresh round of feuding between Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and their supporters.

Health secretary John Reid joined other Labour MPs in a bid to bring order to the government's ranks.

Reid, who was himself removed from the National Executive Committee, publicly warned Brown: "We are not in politics for what we can get for ourselves."

He also admitted that two days of newspaper headlines concerning the latest spat had not been good for the government.

Former Cabinet enforcer Jack Cunningham also sought to play down the row - highlighting the strengths of the "pivotal relationship" between the two men.

He also sought to talk down Blair's refusal to allow Brown to take a seat on Labour's NEC.

"It is rather curious because the NEC is not now that important in planning a general election campaign," Cunningham told the BBC.

And he warned that unity was vital at a time when the Conservatives were starting to revive under new leader Michael Howard.

"The Labour Party and the government should bear in mind that with a new Tory leader and apparently new unity in the Conservative Party we face a very different set of circumstances to those we were looking at just a few days ago," Cunningham said.

"We can't afford to be fiddling around with minor issues here. We have got to make sure the Labour Party and Labour government is unified."

Efforts to defuse the situation came as the chancellor's latest row with the prime minister spilled out across the front pages.

One minister revealed to journalists that Thursday's Cabinet saw the chancellor deliver a massive blow to ID cards.

Brown rejected figures previously agreed between the Home Office and his own officials in a way described as "shocking and gobsmacking".The minister described Brown as "throwing his weight around at cabinet committee with totally unfounded allegations about the substance and the process of ID cards".

Supporters of the chancellor argued that the disagreement reflected a wider argument between the two men over the government's political direction.

Former treasury minister Barbara Roche, a supporter of Gordon Brown, directly criticised the prime minister over the NEC decision.

She said Blair's opposition to Brown assuming a place on the committee was "spiteful, ridiculous and petty".

"I don't think this is about personalities, but about the future direction of the Labour party and it is ridiculous that Gordon Brown is not on the NEC," she said.

"Gordon has a breadth of appeal that extends from the Labour party through middle England to the City and he should be used to full effect."

Despite the public disagreement, Number 10 continues to insist that the relationship between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown "remains strong".

The prime minister's official spokesman claimed that their relationship remained one of the "strengths of the government".

"I don't want to be drawn on party matters but equally the relationship between the prime minister and the chancellor remains strong," said the official spokesman.

But asked whether he had sought a place on the NEC, Brown said this week: "I did, but it's not my decision, it's a decision for Tony Blair, who is the leader of the Labour Party and I've got to accept his decision.

"I ran the Labour Party general election campaign in 1997 and I was a member of the National Executive Committee at the time. I also ran it in 2001 and wasn't.

"I felt it would be better running the general election campaign from being a member of the National Executive Committee, but I have to say it is a decision not for me - it's a decision for the prime minister.

"I've got plenty of things to do with my time with a very young son."