The British chancellor Gordon Brown has launched a fight back against accusations that he was plotting to overthrow the prime minister Tony Blair.
Gordon Brown
He denied he was behind a confidential letter from Labour MPs urging the Prime Minister to stand down and threw down the gauntlet to other Labour leadership rivals.
In an interview with Andrew Marr for the BBC's Sunday AM programme the Chancellor said he had heard rumours but "not seen any letters".
He went on: "There were rumours of course about all sorts of things happening during the course of that week. If anybody had asked me about the contents of that letter I would have said it was completely ill-advised.
"And the reason is this. Some people want to tell Tony Blair when he should finally make the decision that he has said he will make about when he wishes to go.
"I've always said to Tony - and I think this should be clear, and it was made clear on many occasions when I've talked to Tony - the decision is for him, it should be for him. I will support him in the decision he makes, I know he will make it in the interests of the party but also, most importantly in the interests of the country."
Mr Brown also insisted he would "welcome" other MPs standing against him in the Labour leadership election after Mr Blair stands down, saying: "They should be free to put both their views forward and to stand if that is what they want to do ...
"I think it's good for the party if there's an election. I've got no difficulty and certainly there's no personal issues about other people standing."
It has emerged that the Chancellor was visited at his Fife home by one of the leaders of the 15 MPs who signed the letter calling on Blair to quit. The visit from Tom Watson came on Monday, a day before the letter was sent and two days before he resigned his ministerial job, the Sunday Times and Mail On Sunday revealed.
But both Mr Brown and Mr Watson insisted the visit was innocent. The MP and his wife and child, who were holidaying nearby at St Andrews had popped in for five minutes to drop off a present for the Chancellor's new baby son Fraser, they said.