Gordon Brown: 'Briefings against Alistair Darling were unfair'

Lord Darling was Mr Brown's chancellor, steering the UK through the 2008 financial crisis.

In a magazine interview in the summer of 2008, he warned of the worst financial crisis in decades, resulting in a furious backlash from those close to Mr Brown.

The then MP for Edinburgh South West claimed that the "forces of hell" had been unleashed on him.

READ MORE: Former Labour chancellor Alistair Darling has died

In an interview for BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Brown said he did not "know much about" the political hits against Lord Darling. In government, Mr Brown said, some people brief information to journalists "on your behalf who you don't even know the names of".

"So some of these things happen and you've got to apologise afterwards," Mr Brown said.

When asked if he had apologised to Lord Darling afterwards, Mr Brown said: "If there had been a briefing against him that was attributed to me, yes of course.

"It was completely unfair. And I never believed this surreptitious way of dealing with politics is in any way honest or something that can be defended at all. It's difficult."

Mr Brown described his chancellor as a “compassionate politician who wanted to get things done” but was “always very quiet in the way he did it”.

Damian McBride was Mr Brown's spin doctor in Downing Street and recalled the incident in his book Power Trip.

He said Mr Brown was "incredulous" about his chancellor's warnings on the economy and they agreed to say he had been misquoted and misinterpreted.

"The idea that anyone was authorised by Gordon to do 'background briefing' against Alistair - or that anyone unleashed the attack dogs against him - is not only totally untrue, it wouldn't have made any sense.

"Now, I freely admit to several occasions when I did or said things without Gordon's knowledge or approval, so I can see people thinking it's not inconceivable I could have done some freelancing on this occasion, too.

"But if Gordon gave me a script and a set of marching orders, I followed them to the letter. I didn't add little private postscripts or give my own take."

READ MORE: Alistair Darling’s ‘calmness in a crisis’ remembered following his death aged 70

Former Scottish secretary Douglas Alexander also paid tribute to Mr Darling, telling the BBC's Good Morning Scotland that he was “one of the good guys.”

He said: “Truthfully, I think Scotland has lost one of our finest sons in what happened yesterday.

“It’s a terrible, terrible tragedy, not just for, first and foremost, the family but for our public life which Alistair graced for more than 30 years.”

Mr Alexander also worked with Mr Darling on the Better Together campaign in the run up to the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.

He recalled the solidity his friend brought to the team during the shaky final weeks of the referendum campaign, when a Sunday Times poll just days before the vote put the Yes side marginally ahead.

“You get a measure of someone’s character and strength of character in the tough times more than in the easy times,” Mr Alexander said.

“And he was just as solid that day as he was the night of the referendum debate when he bested Alex Salmond.

“There was a solidity and a quiet confidence that endured in those difficult times.”

Mr Alexander said that during the financial crash, Mr Darling understood it was a “solvency crisis, not a liquidity crisis”.

He added: “It wasn’t just that they had to get through the next 24 hours, but actually in a way that Alistair would never have imagined, the British state was going to have to stand behind Scotland’s banks and the UK’s banks.

“In that sense, we were well-served by not just his calmness but his intellect and his judgment at what was a really critical time for the country.”

In the wake of the crash, with UK banks seemingly on the brink of collapse, Mr Darling was able to negotiate a £137 billion bailout package.