GORDON BROWN said yesterday that his two-year-old son, John, has had the MMR jab amid growing signs that he is raising his personal and political profile in preparation for taking over from Tony Blair.

The Chancellor said that parents had obligations to the rest of society to protect children from disease, adding: “It’s not just an optional extra.”

He said that on issues such as obesity, drinking and vaccinations, people had to take personal responsibility for their decisions. Mr Brown’s comments may be seen in some quarters as a dig at Mr Blair, who has consistently refused to say whether his son Leo, aged 5, has had the jab.

Mr Brown has been giving a series of interviews in which he has discreetly disclosed more details of his family life than the Blairs. The move appears deliberately designed to counter the appeal of David Cameron, the new Tory leader.

Mr Brown is believed to favour a more aggressive approach to tackling Mr Cameron than Mr Blair.

The Blair approach has been to welcome policy U-turns by Mr Cameron while at the same time accusing him of “flip-flopping” on all the main issues.

Recent signs from the Brown and Blair camps have been pointing to a warmer relationship between the two men. Each side denies that there has been a formal deal on the timing of a handover, but there is growing confidence that Mr Blair plans to bow out next year, after perhaps giving a pointer to his intentions at this year’s party conference.

Alastair Campbell and Philip Gould, who have been Mr Blair’s leading political strategists during the past two Parliaments, have discussed long-term political tactics with both men in recent weeks and there have been separate meetings with Mr Brown.

Mr Brown has given a series of interviews in which he has stressed that he plans to carry on the new Labour reform programme of which he and Mr Blair were the joint architects. He told The Sun that his guiding principle in government would be “reform, reform, reform”.

But he also used a speech in which he set out his own distinctive agenda for a Brown leadership including constitutional reform, devolution of power to local communities and his vision of Britishness.

MPs see Mr Brown’s efforts to raise his profile as part of an attempt to dispel his reputation as a dour Scotsman and paint himself as a rounded politician capable of running the country.

Times Recommends

• Madonna and her Guy decide it’s over
• Internet phone calls are jeopardising terror fight
• Red squirrels develop immunity to grey plague