development of the proposals to get g8 countries to freeze debt repayments from the tsunamihit countries it was claimed he had been embarrassed by the fact that gordon brown appeared to have taken the initiative over the government s response to the disaster while mr blair was still on holiday in egypt then as if to pour fuel on the flames both men separately spoke about working on tsunami or wider aid and development policy with their cabinet colleagues foreign secretary jack straw aid minister hilary benn and deputy prime minister john prescott without mentioning the other all this came amid fresh claims that mr brown was still seething that he had been excluded from a prominent role in general election planning and had as a result started to set out his own platform the fact that he used an article in the guardian newspaper to set out what he believed should be in the manifesto has embarked on a mini tour of britain to set out his aid plans and will next week visit africa on the same mission often seen as the prime minister s turf has only added to the impression of rival camps operating entirely independently of each other the prime minister denied all that as well repeating his insistence that it was inconceivable the economy and the chancellor would not be at the centre of the election campaign but the big fear with many on the labour benches now is that unless a lid can be put on the speculation over the rivalry it may even threaten to undermine the election campaign itself