A five-page memo by the Prime Minister’s closest aides said that they were drawing up a “grid” for Mr Blair to bow out like a rock star. “He needs to go with the crowds wanting more. He should be the star who won’t even play that last encore,” it recommends.

The document plunged a divided Labour Party farther into crisis, with activists balking at a “Soviet-style” glorification and others fearing that attempts to “spin” his exit would backfire.

The memo, drawn up by the pollster Philip Gould and at least three other members of Mr Blair’s inner circle, suggested that the Prime Minister should seek invitations from a string of light entertainment TV and radio programmes on the eve of his departure.

They should include Blue Peter, Songs of Praise and Chris Evans’s BBC Radio 2 show, it said, as well as a series of interviews with foreign newspapers to shape his reputation abroad. The memo, leaked to the Daily Mirror, did not give any specific date for Mr Blair’s departure but admitted: “Time is not an unlimited commodity.”

Downing Street confirmed the document’s authenticity but insisted that it had been prepared before May’s local elections and the Prime Minister had not seen its contents.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “What he is interested in is substance, not image. What he is interested in is examining the issues.

“He knows people will make up their own minds about him and his record; what he wants to do is get on with addressing the immediate issues and analysing and addressing those issues and developing answers to them.” He pointed to recent speeches on criminal justice and public health.

This will do little, however, to quell the rising tide of criticism surrounding Mr Blair’s handling of his departure. One explosive section of the memo contained an apparent admission that Downing Street recognised that it had failed to bring about significant improvements since 1997.

It says: “His genuine legacy is not the delivery, important though that is, but the dominance of new Labour ideas — the triumph of Blairism.”

The document is also likely to anger Gordon Brown for suggesting that the Chancellor may try to sabotage the Prime Minister’s legacy. “There are specific issues which can provide opportunities and threats. They are: GB’s reaction . . . the more successful we are the more it will agitate and possibly destabilise him, we need to consider how to deal.”

It advises the Prime Minister that the issue of Iraq requires careful handling. It says: “We need to incorporate this into our media plan. It’s the elephant in the room, let’s face up to it . . . Most importantly, are we up for it? Is TB up for it?”

Discussion of job offers for Mr Blair could and should be avoided, it said, fuelling speculation that the Prime Minister has already been approached.

The document is believed to have been written by the Prime Minister’s inner circle, including Mr Gould, Matthew Taylor, the Prime Minister’s political secretary, and Benjamin Wegg-Prosser, a former adviser to Peter Mandelson. All three are unlikely to play such a big role in government if the Chancellor becomes Prime Minister.

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