As if Gordon Brown did not have enough problems. Alongside a series of embarrassing policy retreats, a flagging economy and a battering at the hands of voters in recent local elections, the UK prime minister has now had to cope with the fallout from a series of political memoirs that have reached the shops in recent days.

Ranging from the autobiography of Cherie Blair, the wife of Mr Brown's predecessor Tony Blair, to the memoirs of John Prescott, former deputy prime minister, and Lord Levy, Labour's former fundraiser and an official envoy to the Middle East, the books are unwelcome reading for the current occupant of 10 Downing Street.

In one (Mrs Blair's) he emerges as a schemer who, as chancellor of the exchequer, never wavered from his ambition to supplant Mr Blair from the top job; in another (Mr Prescott's) he portrayed as a "frustrating, annoying, bewildering and prickly" character prone to sulking. Lord Levy settles for claiming that Mr Blair reckoned the prime minister would not be able to defeat the leader of the opposition Conservatives, David Cameron - a claim which is disputed by the former prime minister.

While many of the claims in the books are familiar to followers of Westminster, the timing of their publication has prompted a flurry of speculation, as they come at a time when Mr Brown is battling to rescue his premiership from a remarkable slump in its political fortunes.

Mrs Blair's book - for which she reportedly received an advance of between £500,000 ($978,000, €629,000) and £1m - had originally been scheduled for release in October, in the midst of the UK party conference season.

Sources close to Ms Blair have suggested she brought forward the publication of her book, so Mr Brown's supporters could not accuse her of overshadowing the Labour party conference.

However, in publishing her memoirs now, Ms Blair is open to an even greater criticism: timing the release of the book to further damage the embattled and unpopular prime minister.

A spokesperson for Little, Brown, the publisher, said that the speculation over political motives for the timing of the release of the book was "complete rubbish".

"It wasn't a decision taken last week or anything," he said. "It was taken several months ago. They felt they wanted to get it out as quickly as possible to end the inaccurate stories circulating about the book."

Headline Publishing Group, publishers of Mr Prescott's book, Prezza: Pulling No Punches said that they had always planned to release their book at the end of May.

For Ms Blair, the financial gains for bringing forward the publication date of her book far exceed any potential political gains. The publication of Mr Prescott's book, along with that of Lord Levy risked stealing the thunder from her memoirs if they were delayed for five more months. "With the Lord Levy and Prescott books out, everyone would have told their story and she would look like an also-ran," said Andrew Lownie, a London literary agent.

Moreover, the precipitous decline in Mr Brown's popularity may have raised concerns in Ms Blair's circle that he might not still be prime minister by October, reducing the book's appeal.

"Nobody can sell a book now about Thatcher's government," said Mr Lownie. "The feeling is that it was looking like it would be out of date, and Gordon Brown might not be around."

In their own words

"There was no doubt that in April 2004, with Gordon rattling the keys [to Number 10] above his head, Tony suffered a crisis of confidence as to whether he was still an asset to the Labour party. I remained determined that Tony was not going to resign." Cherie Blair Speaking For Myself

"Gordon is a difficult character, but sometimes Tony exaggerated how difficult he had been, just to get sympathy." "On one occasion Gordon wouldn't let Tony see what was in his preparatory budget proposals. He even banned the Treasury from telling him. That was totally against tradition." "With Tony, when he was moaning on about Gordon's behaviour, I'd say: 'Sack him. Find a new chancellor, if that's how you really feel.' But neither could take the final step. They were caught in their own trap. Tony knew that sacking Gordon would tear the party apart." John Prescott Prezza, My Story Pulling No Punches

"Even with Iraq and all his growing political problems, Tony still felt that if he stayed on he could lead Labour to a fourth victory." " 'But Gordon? He can't defeat Cameron,' Tony told me." Lord Levy A Question of Honour

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