Gordon Brown is viewing the arrival of a new head of the British Army next month as an opportunity to draw a line under an embarrassing period of public infighting between the government and the military over the Afghan war, the Financial Times has learnt.

As General Sir Richard Dannatt, the chief of the general staff, on Friday publicly stepped up demands for more resources for British troops fighting in Helmand, Downing Street insiders made clear that relations with him had seriously deteriorated. They indicated that working with his replacement, General Sir David Richards, the current army number two who takes over next month, should prove considerably easier.