Tony Blair took the unusual step yesterday of issuing a statement to say that he fully supports Gordon Brown and did not authorise weekend reports suggesting otherwise.

Suggestions that Mr Blair was telling friends that he was unhappy with his successor came on the day that Lord Falconer of Thoroton, the former Lord Chancellor and a close friend of the former Prime Minister, appeared to attack Mr Brown.

Lord Falconer, who stepped down in July at the same time as Mr Blair left office, urged Mr Brown to set out his vision rather than define himself in relation to events, such as foot-and-mouth and terrorism.

“If we rely on experience and our ability to handle crises and do not set out our vision for the future of the UK, then we will be offering drift not leadership and the past not the future.”

He added pointedly: “Renewal does not come from change of leadership alone.”

This led Mr Blair to step in, issuing a statement through his spokesman insisting that he was not urging friends to criticise Mr Brown.

“Tony Blair is working hard on the Middle East role and is focused on that. Tony Blair said when he stood down that he would remain fully supportive of Gordon Brown and that is emphatically what he continues to be,” the spokesman said. “Tony Blair hasn’t authorised this stuff and he wants nothing to do with it.”

A Government minister took to the airwaves to call for Labour to show self discipline after acknowledging that the past fortnight had been difficult for Labour. Ivan Lewis, a Health Minister, told The Politics Show on BBC One: “What we need now is self discipline. We need unity behind our Prime Minister and we need to remember that we’re Labourites, not Blairites or Brownites.”

Two other former Blair allies, Alan Milburn and Charles Clarke, both emphatically denied yesterday that they were planning a series of media appearances and speeches to point out what went wrong, and a parade of ministers took to the airwaves to stamp on the anonymous briefings.

Tessa Jowell, the Olympics Minister, said that it was “categorically untrue” that Mr Blair had been criticising his successor. “I think it is nothing short of wicked to suggest that Tony Blair has done any more than he said he was going to do,” said. Liam Byrne, the Home Office Minister said that the party and the Government “had never been as united” as today.

Meanwhile, allies of Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat leader, also moved to shore up his position after a series of damaging poll results and suggestions by Simon Hughes, the party’s president, that he should do better.

On Saturday Sir Menzies gave one of his most polished performances to date at the party’s East of England regional conference. Activists who spoke to The Times insisted that they were not keen for a change of leader, with several blaming the media for the party’s poor poll ratings.

Times Recommends

• Donor organ allowed child’s own heart to heal
• Michael Jackson: Not the final chapter
• Brüno toned down for 15 rating