A secret dinner between two leading Labour politicians paved the way for Tony Blair's premiership.

Now party history appears to be repeating itself with reports that another secret restaurant meeting has laid the foundations for Gordon Brown's succession.

What has already been dubbed the "Loch Fyne accord" is being compared with the infamous "Granita pact".

And in a second twist, the ghost of former leader John Smith once again loomed large over the dealings.

The New Labour Government has been defined and driven by the partnership between the Prime Minister and the Chancellor, Mr Brown.

But the relationship between the two men has also proved difficult and sometimes destructive.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott admitted there had been a "pretty serious breakdown of relations in the early days" in his explosive interview with The Times yesterday.

In some quarters - including large sections of the Parliamentary Labour Party - almost every Government action has come to be viewed through the prism of that partnership.

The 1994 Granita supper, held days after John Smith's death, lies at the heart of the on-going battle between the Blairites and Brownies.

The trendy Islington eatery may now have shut its doors but the candle-lit meeting continues to cast its shadow over the Government.

Such is the mythology surrounding the meeting that it even formed the basis of a TV drama broadcast last year.

Mr Blair has repeatedly denied doing a deal to eventually hand his friend the leadership in return for standing aside in the contest to succeed Mr Smith.

However, anonymous supporters of the Chancellor insist an understanding was reached and he has always declined to deny it.

What is certain is that until Mr Smith's fatal heart attack, Mr Brown appeared a more senior figure than his fellow moderniser.

The Chancellor reputedly acted as a mentor to the less experienced Mr Blair when the pair shared a Commons room as up-and-coming MPs.

Resentment at being outmanoeuvred over the leadership has been blamed for tensions between the two towering figures at the heart of Government.

Disputes remained largely hidden until late last year when Mr Brown publicly questioned the PM's decision not to give him a place on Labour's ruling National Executive Committee.

Mr Prescott is credited with resolving that situation by "bashing their heads together" over a dinner at his Admiralty Arch residence.

However, that meeting produced new reports of a deal, with suggestions that Mr Blair could stand down in favour of Mr Brown around the time of the party conference in the autumn.

Speculation about the PM's future has reached new heights fuelled by Mr Prescott's disclosure that Cabinet colleagues are jockeying for position in expectation of a leadership contest.

Now that interview has been put in dramatic new context by reports of the Deputy Prime Minister's secret meeting with the Chancellor at the Loch Fyne Oyster Bar last Sunday. The pair are said to have spent 90 minutes in the back of a ministerial Jaguar discussing a "peaceful succession" as bodyguards patrolled the car park.

Fittingly, they were in Scotland for a memorial service to mark the tenth anniversary of Mr Smith's death.