GORDON BROWN is building his own policy platform for the Labour leadership after becoming convinced that Tony Blair will never hand over power to him voluntarily, according to an account from the Chancellor’s inner circle.

The claims are made in an explosive new book written by the journalist, Robert Peston, with both the knowledge of — and co-operation from — Mr Brown and Ed Balls, the Chancellor’s chief aide for the past decade, as well as other close advisers, colleagues and senior Treasury officials.

The disclosure comes amid signs of fresh tension between the Brown and Blair camps before the Pre-Budget Report tomorrow, in which the Chancellor is expected to set out a ten-year vision for the Government’s direction.

Yesterday, he was given a fresh warning from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, as well as the Bank of England, that he may have to raise taxes or cut spending if higher-than-forecast government borrowing is to be curbed.

But the Chancellor plans to use the Pre-Budget Report to emphasise policies on the eco-nomy and social justice ahead of the “security at home and abroad” theme favoured by Downing Street. The report is also expected to underline Mr Brown’s long-term ambitions by setting out the Treasury’s ten-year plans for progress, in contrast to the five-year plans being drawn up by Mr Blair.

The new book claims that Mr Brown has abandoned any lingering hopes that Mr Blair intends to hand over power in a smooth succession. Instead, he plans to offer the Labour Party an alternative: he will no longer position himself as Blairite successor to Blair. Downing Street, which until yesterday was unaware of the book, refused to comment. But allies of the Prime Minister last night expressed alarm that publication of Brown’s Britain in the new year will be seen as an act of “deliberate and destructive provocation” before a general election campaign.

The Chancellor will reject any accusation of disloyalty on the ground that he has repeatedly sacrificed his own interests for the sake of party unity. He believes this has been the pattern from 1994 — when he stepped aside for Mr Blair in the Labour leadership contest — to this year, when he reluctantly ordered backbench allies into line behind plans for student top-up fees.

Peston, formerly political editor of the Financial Times and currently City editor of The Sunday Telegraph, describes the events of this autumn, when the Prime Minister brought Alan Milburn back into the Cabinet against Mr Brown’s wishes and then announced he would serve a full third term in office, as a final betrayal.

Alleged deals on the leadership include the “Granita pact” in 1994, when Brownites claim Mr Blair promised to step down in the course of this Parliament, as well as subsequent agreements in the last year under which Mr Brown would have taken over before the next election. “Tony Blair is interested only in Tony Blair and his place in history. He has no loyalty to the party,” one Brownite source said yesterday.

The book says Mr Brown is now convinced that he will become leader only if he rejects what Mr Blair stands for across a range of substantial policy areas. These cover his desire to limit the role of markets in the provision of public services, as well as to rebuild the concept of “Britishness” — not least because of fears that devolution may have made it more difficult for a Scottish MP such as him to become Prime Minister.

In a speech yesterday, the Chancellor said: “At the heart of the Pre-Budget Report is a patriotic vision of Britain’s future as a country of ambition and aspiration — how we make Britain the best place to grow up in, the best place to study, the best place to start a business and to work.”

Peston sets out the evolution of Mr Brown’s policy thinking over the 14 years since he first emerged as a heavyweight frontbench figure and a likely future leader. It will suggest that his conduct in both opposition and government has always been to put the interests of the party and social progress before any personal feuds or rivalries.

The author told The Times last night: “Although it is impossible to understand new Labour without understanding the Blair-Brown relationship, it is important to realise these disputes are not only personal but also about very different political outlooks. The book is about what this Government has done, the role the Chancellor has played in that and where he might take the Government in the future.”

A Treasury spokesman said: “This is not an authorised bio-graphy, it is just one in a series of books written about the policies and ideas of the Labour Government in recent years.”

Mr Balls, who recently quit the Treasury to pursue a parliamentary career, insisted yesterday that the timing of the book’s release, as well as the interpretation of any information, were a matter for the author and his publisher, Short Books.

But Mr Balls also acknowledged that he was aware the book was being written and that the author had been granted access to the Chancellor’s inner circle including, on some occasions, Mr Brown himself.

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