BRITAIN: David Blunkett's diaries have again turned the spotlight on the bitter personality faultlines that have damaged and disfigured the New Labour project since Tony Blair came to power in 1997.
On the eve of the first prime minister's questions since the failed attempt to force Mr Blair from Downing Street last month, the memoirs also lift the lid on the prime minister's difficult relationship with the man who would replace him - claiming the chancellor, Gordon Brown, gave his backing to the invasion of Iraq only at the 11th hour.
The first day of the diaries' serialisation in the Guardian and the Daily Mail generated unwelcome headlines, reminding the public of Mr Blunkett's own strained relations with cabinet colleagues, while telling of "chaos" and "feuds" as well as "seething hatreds" and "serial incompetence" at the heart of government.
Senior Whitehall sources said privately the publication of the diaries added nothing new to what was known of Mr Blunkett's long, traumatic, highly personal and ultimately unsuccessful effort to avoid sharing with Peter Mandelson the dubious distinction of being forced to quit the Blair cabinet twice.
Mr Blunkett was first forced to resign as home secretary over allegations about the fast-tracking of a visa application for the nanny of his then lover, Spectator publisher Kimberley Quinn.
Mr Blair brought him back into the cabinet after the 2005 general election, but Mr Blunkett was forced to resign a second time, as work and pensions secretary, amid allegations about his business interests.
Pouring his personal anguish into a tape recorder following the disclosure of his affair with Ms Quinn, Mr Blunkett admitted: "Even I am beginning to doubt myself. I think I am going mad."
Virtually every day for the next 15 months, he writes, was "either a nightmare or an anticipated nightmare, with massive collateral damage to family and friends".
Perhaps the greatest collateral damage to Mr Blunkett resulted from his co-operation with a biography about him by author Stephen Pollard, with the recording of a series of highly unflattering and critical remarks about cabinet colleagues which left him without vital support in his hour of need.
Mr Blunkett says he was unable to make his peace with deputy prime minister John Prescott after speaking publicly about Mr Prescott's sensitivity about being known as "two Jags" Prescott.
He was left in no doubt about Mr Prescott's feelings just days before he resigned the Home Office in December 2004, after he turned-up at the traditional "Old Lags" Christmas dinner at Westminster: "Everyone who cared for me said they had never seen John Prescott look at me with such hatred and bitterness."
In a vivid account of the tensions affecting Mr Blair and his ministers in the run-up to the Iraq war, Mr Blunkett revealed that Mr Brown gave his backing only at the 11th hour, while questioning the point of attending meetings of the war cabinet, complaining that he learned more about events in Iraq from the media.