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London, Dec. 23 (ANI): Labour MP and noted Blairite John Hutton has admitted to once describing that Gordon Brown as “a f****** disaster” if he ever became British Prime Minister.

However, according to The Guardian, the defence secretary now claims that his opinion about Brown has changed.

In a 2006 BBC report, Hutton had anonymously predicted that Brown would be a disaster inside No 10. As a cabinet source he made his remarks amid the high emotion of the coup against Tony Blair in 2006.

But during a gruelling interview by BBC’s Eddie Mair, he finally confessed, giving a flavour of the deep hatreds that ran through Labour in the Blair-Brown era.

Mair asked: “You are credited with saying - perhaps that’s not the right word - you are credited with saying previously that Gordon Brown would be ‘a f***ing disaster’ in the role of prime minister. Did you say that?”

Hutton drew breath, before replying: “That’s not my view.”

Mair persisted: “Did you say it?”

Hutton countered: “I am not going to, sort of, go into this … sort of, who said what to whom again here because, you know, I could say yes or no to that question …”

Mair interrupted: “Well you can tell me the truth …” But Hutton ploughed on: “… and it would still continue to be debated.”

Mair suggested: “You could tell me you thought it once and you don’t think it now.”

Hutton took evasive action, damning the prime minister with faint praise: “He has not been a disaster - he has put his heart and soul into the job, and is doing everything he can for the country at a time of intense difficulty.”

Mair refused to relent: “But did you think he would be a disaster and did you express it in those terms?”

Hutton laughed nervously saying he had never been one of Brown’s cheerleaders.

Mair asserted: “My guess is you said it. You haven’t denied saying it, and you … So, come on. Did you say it?”

Hutton teetered close to the precipice: “Well, there’s no point in me denying that I didn’t have very serious concerns about …”

Mair pounced: “You said it … didn’t you?”

Hutton broke: “I did say it. Yes, I did. Yeah. Let’s just get that over with.”

With his secret unmasked, Hutton cast caution to the winds, saying those who had plotted the ousting of Blair in 2006 should “hang their heads in shame”.

Asked if one of those plotters was Brown, he added: “Yes, I think so.”

Finally he warned: “The truth will come out. It normally does in politics.” (ANI)