The rivals - James Naughtie

An insightful post-election analysis of the delicate relationship at the heart of New Labour from the acclaimed journalist and broadcaster James Naughtie.;Tony Blair and Gordon Brown - no Prime Minister and Chancellor this century have been bound so closely together, each depending on the other's strengths to repair weaknesses that might otherwise be politically fatal; yet theirs is a bond that crackles with suspicion and misunderstanding, lovers' tiffs that send tremors through the government.;The story of the current era can only properly be told through the prism of this strange union between Blair and Brown. James Naughtie is an insider. A respected political commentator, he has equal access to both men, to their key courtiers, to the party malcontents and everyone who has ever sat in Cabinet with them. Even the supporting players are wildly dramatic: the saturnine plotting of Peter Mandelson, the muscled protection of Alistair Campbell, and the Scots traditionalists facing down the Number 10 policy wonks. But the real drama is compressed into the central relationship. Here are Othello and Iago, Caesar and Brutus.