John McTernan: He was his own man – despite the ‘control freak’ next door

Leaked extracts from Alistair Darling’s memoirs appear to show there was a state of warfare between No 11 and No 10 when Gordon Brown was prime minister which echoed, if it did not equal, the TBGBs, as the Blair/Brown fights were termed.

What brought things to this pass? After all, throughout most of his ministerial career, Darling was seen as a safe pair of hands, and one who was decisively in the Brownite camp. He had no hidden agenda, no burning but undeclared desire to be the next prime minister.

Partly, it was Brown’s control freakery. Anyone other than himself – except perhaps his close lieutenant Ed Balls – in the Treasury would surely have felt the pressure of the same micro-management. Mainly, it was because Darling had his own agenda – an economic one, not a political one – and he intended to stick to it.

The turning point, in public at least, was the Guardian magazine profile that was published in September 2008. In it, Darling observed that: “The economic times we are facing are arguably the worst they’ve been in 60 years.”

For his pains, No 10 unleashed their attack dogs on him. Yet, in retrospect, it was the openness, honesty and sheer truth of this statement that secured his reputation with the public as someone who could be trusted.

In government, Darling was a consummate professional. He and his team did not brief against colleagues, nor would they confirm stories of conflict to journalists. Even the epic struggle during the reshuffle of 2009, when Darling refused to be moved from the post of Chancellor – threatening instead to resign – was never broadcast by him. He allowed the facts to speak for themselves.

Darling had made himself unsackable by the cool way he had saved Britain’s banks in the midst of a global financial crisis. He used his new political strength to push a distinctive line on public spending. He and his team resisted again and again pressure from No 10 to agree to massive spending commitments. Right up to the publication of Labour’s manifesto, free school meals for all pupils were still on the agenda – massive new spending at a time when cuts were inevitable.

The division between the Treasury and No 10 can be simply put. Brown always conducted politics in terms of “dividing lines” aimed at putting the Tories in the wrong. He wanted the 2010 election to be conducted as one more version of “cuts versus investment”.

On one memorable occasion, I was involved in a discussion about this at No 10. There were regular briefing meetings for government special advisers conducted by the prime minister’s team. When I was political secretary, I led the briefings, and in due course, when I returned to the ranks, working in the Scotland Office, I attended them. As we entered the pre-election period, the focus of the meetings shifted to the forthcoming debate between us and the Tories. When the dividing line was unveiled, I asked: “Surely the real choice is between our cuts and theirs.” This was dismissed, but later No 10 issued an edict to Alistair Darling’s staff. While they hadn’t supported my line, they had rolled their eyes while No 10 staffers were talking. In future meetings, Treasury advisers were to have deadpan faces. In the end, Darling won the day, but relationships were trashed.

l John McTernan was a political adviser to Tony Blair.