The visibly exhausted Blair was at Chequers, the prime ministerial mansion in Buckinghamshire where he has enjoyed many hours escaping the pressures of Downing Street.

For eight years this is where he has invited celebrities to dine, enjoyed the tennis court and played football with his children on the lawns. Like the premiership, giving up its charms would not be easy. And yesterday, despite the collapse in Labour’s majority from 167 to 66, Blair had no intention of relinquishing his grip on power or on the house keys.

Brown was relaxing at his more modest house in North Queensferry, near Edinburgh, with his wife and young baby. His supporters would like him to move south and claim his inheritance, but Brown gave the impression yesterday that he was in no great hurry to leave his view over the Firth of Forth for the attractions of Chequers.

During the election campaign both men seemed to understand that they are nothing without power and found the discipline to put their differences aside.

Blair not only publicly rowed back on pre-election hints that the chancellor might be demoted; he went as far as almost to endorse him as the next prime minister. In return, Brown surprised his own supporters with a blunt defence of Blair’s Iraq war record. Between them, the two men put on a convincing buddy act that saved the election. The big question now is: will that unity last?

WHEN Brown went to see Blair in his den on Friday morning around midday, there were no hugs as the chancellor entered the room.

Charles Clarke, once thought of as a possible leadership rival to Brown, was sitting in the waiting room awaiting the reshuffle. Brown did not disdain to give the home secretary a glance. “Hi, howya doin’?” Brown smiled as he sank into the armchair opposite Blair’s desk. For once he seemed more relaxed than the prime minister.

Blair was in pliant mood. He immediately raised the subject of the reshuffle — would it be okay if Ruth Kelly was moved back to the Treasury as chief secretary from education? No problem, said Brown.

The meeting lasted 25 minutes. Most of it was spent discussing the lessons to be learnt from the defeat. Iraq was not mentioned, but the two agreed that they would have a problem if divisive issues such as university top-up fees were ever pushed through again without consultation with the back benches and the public.

They agreed that the “we are listening” message should be the “line to take” and they both repeated it during the day.

After the meeting Brown headed straight back to the Treasury where he was greeted by hundreds of officials in the new glass atrium building at the corner of Parliament Square. There were spontaneous cheers. He later described it to his officials as one of the most touching moments of his career.

He said that he was overwhelmed by the turn-out. Someone tapped him on the shoulder. “Look up there, Gordon.” He raised his head to see scores more people on the balcony above. The crowd cheered again.

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