Leaked Blair Memo Blasts Brown 'Vacuity'

Gordon Brown took further lashed from his own party over the weekend as allies of Tony Blair leaked an old memo from the former prime minister bashing Brown's tenure. In the memo, written last year after Brown called off a mooted snap election, Blair accuses his successor of "hubris and vacuity." Blairites are also preparing to launch a series of statements and policy proposals to force Brown out.

Friends of Blair said that the memo accurately reflected his opinions of Brown, but they couldn't confirm he'd written it. It remains unclear who leaked the memo, although the release seems timed to destablize Brown at a moment of weakness. Last week David Miliband, the foreign secretary and Blair's top protégé, published an op-ed in the Guardian calling for a rejuvenated Labour Party, setting off days of arguments and recriminations. (More Gordon Brown stories.)