BRITAIN: A troubled British Labour leadership staged a show of unity yesterday, as the Chancellor, Mr Gordon Brown, finally sought to end two days of infighting by insisting he does trust the Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair.
However, the Blair government's embarrassment is set to continue, with the Conservative leader, Mr Michael Howard, almost certain to use Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons today to underline Mr Brown's continuing failure to withdraw or disown specific remarks attributed to him in a controversial new book, Brown's Britain.
In the row over Mr Blair's reported decision to renege on a commitment to stand down in Mr Brown's favour last autumn, the Chancellor is alleged to have told him: "There is nothing that you could ever say to me now that I could ever believe."
Mr Brown appeared with the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr John Prescott, and Mr Alan Milburn, the man appointed to replace him in charge of general election planning, at the launch of a poster campaign boasting the government's economic achievements.
However, Mr Brown declined his first opportunity of the day to disown the remark, which the Conservatives intend to incorporate into their election campaign.
Asked how he would deal with claims that he did not trust the Prime Minister, Mr Brown replied: "I have made it absolutely clear that I would make no further comment about books and about gossip."
Only at a later press conference to launch the government's baby bond scheme did the Chancellor affirm: "Of course I trust the Prime Minister."
That did not appear to satisfy sources close to Mr Blair who described yesterday as "a damaging day for Gordon" following Monday's dressing-down from Labour MPs for both men.