THE GUARDIAN calls it the “TB-GBs”; the love-hate affair that dominated their relationship – and continues to dominate the memoirs of the former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

The book, entitled My Journey, is published today – and there’s only one angle anyone’s talking about.

“In the book as in life, the issue of why the two Labour prime ministers were quite so dependent upon one another is never entirely resolved,” the Guardian writes.

But Blair’s memoir is not wholly critical of his successor, Gordon Brown. The former prime minister refers to “the Gordon problem – the combination of the brilliant and the impossible.”

Blair writes:

“Just as when Gordon sheltered beneath my umbrella as prime minister the benign view of him was misguided in his favour, so now it is misguided to underestimate his huge strengths. The truth is that every time I considered who might replace him, I concluded he was still the best for the job.”

Brown lacked the political instinct “at the human gut level” at which Blair excelled, the book suggests.

“Political calculation, yes. Political feelings, no. Analytical intelligence, absolutely. Emotional intelligence, zero.”

Blair considering firing Brown many times during his reign, he admits, but none of the other potential candidates were quite up to the job.

“I came to the conclusion that having him inside and constrained was better than outside and let loose or, worse, becoming the figurehead of a far more damaging force well to the left.”

The Telegraph has a slightly less rose-tinted view of things. “Tony Blair: Gordon Brown was ‘maddening’ bully who blackmailed me,” its headline trumpets. The book, the newspaper insists, paints Brown as a political incompetent with “zero emotional intelligence”.

The newspaper carries details of revelations that Brown tried to blackmail Blair over the cash for honours scandal,  when it erupted in 2006, in a bid to make him ditch radical pension reforms. The scandal arose over allegations that Blair had doled out seats in the House of Lords in exchange for sizeable donations to the party. Blair refused to back down on pension reform – and two days later, Brown gave the television interview which led to the threated public investigation.

Of all the British papers to have had a sneak preview of the book, the Daily Mail is unique in its lack of interest in Blair’s attack on Brown.

It describes the book as “a journey into Mr Blair’s fantasy world”, writing that “it is in relation to Iraq where the former prime minister is most deluded and unrepentant.”

The book also reveals how Blair lied to prevent the collapse of the Northern Ireland peace process.

Blair will be in Ireland at the weekend, where he will appear on the Late Late show and sign copies of his book.