Former cabinet secretary calls Chancellor 'Stalinist'

Gordon Brown has displayed a "Stalinist ruthlessness" in his dismissive treatment of Cabinet colleagues, the former Cabinet Secretary Lord Turnbull said today.

He delivered a scathing assessment of Mr Brown's leadership style ahead of tomorrow's budget, expected to be his last as Chancellor.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Lord Turnbull, who was permanent secretary for four years under Mr Brown before moving to Downing Street as Cabinet Secretary, accused him of a "very cynical view of mankind and his colleagues".

Lord Turnbull said: "He cannot allow them any serious discussion ... His view is that it is just not worth it and 'they will get what I decide' ... "Do those ends justify the means? It has enhanced Treasury control, but at the expense of any government cohesion and any assessment of strategy. You can choose whether you are impressed or depressed by that, but you cannot help admire the sheer Stalinist ruthlessness of it all."

He praised several of Mr Brown's policy initiatives, including granting independence to the Bank of England and overseeing a three-year spending round.

But he said the Bank of England move would have suited Mr Brown by allowing him to distance himself from responsibility for interest rate rises. "The chancellor has a Macavity quality. He is not there when there is dirty work to be done," he said.

He also questioned the use of "celebrity reviews" by outsiders. "This has been an unworthy development in that it belittles other ministers. The surprising thing about the Treasury is the more or less complete contempt with which other colleagues are held."

In some areas, Lord Turnbull said, the Treasury had taken total control over key policies. "That has been impressive," he said, "but in a sense reprehensible. There has been an absolute ruthlessness with which Gordon has played the denial of information as an instrument of power."