GMB cash decision touches a nerve in Downing Street

Tony Blair was furious last night after the leader of one of Britain's biggest unions and an ally of Gordon Brown accused him of being "out of touch" with ordinary people.

Tony Blair was furious last night after the leader of one of Britain's biggest unions and an ally of Gordon Brown accused him of being "out of touch" with ordinary people.

The attack by Kevin Curran, the leader of the GMB union, and a close friend of Gordon Brown, threatened to reopen the tensions between the Prime Minister and the Chancellor. One senior Labour figure close to Mr Blair said: "Downing Street is furious. They see Gordon's fingerprints on it."

Mr Brown will be annoyed that Blairites are seeking to make capital against him over the row with the unions.

Mr Curran, the general secretary of the GMB, said the union could cut its historic links with the Labour Party unless there was a radical change of policy in Downing Street.

As a first step, the union yesterday refused to pay £744,000 of Labour's general election campaign expenses. Instead, it agreed that Labour MPs would be paid individually for supporting the union's policies. "They are trying to turn MPs into delegates," said a leading Blairite MP.

Mr Curran mooted going a step further. He said he could not "in all conscience" ask his members to support affiliation to the party if mid-way through the next term a Labour Government continued to refuse to address their concerns. He said: "The entirely bogus 'choice' debate and recent ministerial bragging about flexible labour markets and the denial of equal treatment at work with other European citizens are disturbing examples of a growing disconnection between the aspirations of working people and 10 Downing Street."

A Labour spokesman said: "Labour candidates will fight on a manifesto agreed by the Labour Party and we believe that a Government which has created two million extra jobs, introduced the first-ever national minimum wage and is improving schools and hospitals deserves the support of working people."