Brown has returned to work after birth of baby son

Mr Brown, speaking on BBC's Breakfast programme, said the prime minister was entitled to reject his request.

And he said the decision would give him more time to spend with his new baby son.

There have been reports that the chancellor was angry to have been turned down for membership of Labour's National Executive Committee.

But Thursday's comments are the first time Mr Brown has admitted that he had asked for a place on the NEC and was rejected.

I felt it would be better running the general election campaign from being a member of the National Executive Committee, but I have to say it is a decision not for me - it's a decision for the prime minister Gordon Brown Watch the interview here

They also come amid reports of a split between Mr Blair and Mr Brown over the proposed European Union constitution.

The chancellor was giving a series of interviews on the economy ahead of the Bank of England's decision to raise interest rates to 3.75%.

Mr Brown was asked on the BBC's Breakfast programme to confirm that he had asked Mr Blair to grant him membership of the committee.

'Blahtastic'

He said: "I did, but it's not my decision, it's a decision for Tony Blair, who is the leader of the Labour Party and I've got to accept his decision.

"I ran the Labour Party general election campaign in 1997 and I was a member of the National Executive Committee at the time. I also ran it in 2001 and wasn't.

"I felt it would be better running the general election campaign from being a member of the National Executive Committee, but I have to say it is a decision not for me - it's a decision for the prime minister.

"I've got plenty of things to do with my time with a very young son."

Reports of increasingly strained relations between Mr Blair and Mr Brown were described as "blahtastic" by Downing Street on Wednesday.

'Strange and petty'

And it emerged the two men were dining together on Thursday night, but Number 10 refused to confirm "the menu or the venue".

Reports of the snub emerged on Wednesday when The Guardian newspaper claimed that Mr Brown had made a direct appeal to join the Labour Party's ruling body, but had been turned down by the prime minister.

The newspaper said Mr Brown discovered his latest request to join the committee had been rejected when he returned to work on Tuesday after paternity leave.

One of Mr Brown's unnamed supporters was quoted as saying: "It is surprising, arbitrary and not in the best interests of the Labour Party."

Former minister Barbara Roche added her voice to the row on Thursday, saying it had been "strange and petty" to exclude Mr Brown from the NEC.

Breadth of appeal

"I have been watching events today and I don't think this is about personalities but about the future direction of the Labour Party and it is ridiculous that Gordon Brown is not on the NEC," she said.

"He ran the elections in 1997 and 2001, clearly to great effect and it seems strange and petty that he is now being left out.

"Gordon has a breadth of appeal that extends from the Labour Party through Middle England to the City and he should be used to full effect."

Former defence minister Peter Kilfoyle told Channel 4 News: "There is probably some resentment at the shadowy role, once again, of Peter Mandelson and rightly so in my view.

"But I don't think it is anything for either Gordon Brown or, indeed, ourselves to get exercised about."

'Not an issue'

The prime minister is able to appoint three MPs to the committee and has selected Hazel Blears, Douglas Alexander and party chairman Ian McCartney.

According to the Guardian, Mr Brown lodged his first request for a seat on the NEC a year ago, and did so again in June.

A Labour spokesman said Mr Brown's exclusion "was not an issue".

The prime minister's spokesman said on Wednesday that the relationship between the two men "continues to be one of the great strengths of this government".

Mr Brown is reportedly much tougher in defending Britain's right to fight tax harmonisation across Europe at the inter-governmental conference (IGC) on the proposed EU constitution.

But the prime minister's spokesman said: "The prime minister and the chancellor are reading from the same page of the hymn book on the issue of tax and the IGC."

He added: "They are consistent and united."