Britain's chancellor, and front-runner to succeed Tony Blair as Prime Minister, Gordon Brown was tonight warned by one of Labour's deputy leadership hopefuls that he must change his style.
Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain said the Chancellor would not be able to operate as a "one-man band" prime minister and would have to listen to the rest of the Cabinet.
Speaking at a Labour conference fringe meeting, Mr Hain said: "Remember when you are Chancellor you are usually saying 'no' to people. You are actually minding the purse.
"You are saying 'no' to departmental ministers and you are saying you can only do this and that.
"So you develop a tough, sober, Presbyterian — if I may say so — kind of stance. If you are Prime Minister you are head of a Cabinet, of 20-odd people, strong-willed individuals, all there in their own right, their own abilities and positions in the party.
"You can't operate as a one-man band. It just doesn't work."
Mr Hain, who has backed the Chancellor for leader while presenting himself as a candidate for deputy, said he was neither Blairite nor Brownite.
He also told the event, organised by The Observernewspaper, that he would "tell it straight" to whoever became leader.
"John Prescott has been a loyal deputy leader and he's shown loyalty but he's also told Tony some home truths from time to time," he said.
"And the deputy leader ought to be somebody who can tell it straight, who can tell the Prime Minister what the score is and also tell maybe a trade union leader — with whom you otherwise have very close relations — 'look, this is not possible'."
PA