Mr Clarke accused Mr Brown of disloyalty to his predecessor

Critics say the slogan is meaningless and is the same as one used by the British National Party, but Mr Clarke said MPs had been "loyal" to the PM.

He told the Guardian this was "staggering", as Mr Brown had shown "disloyalty" to predecessor Tony Blair.

But Mr Brown suggested Mr Clarke's comments had been "distorted".

Mr Clarke, who was sacked as home secretary last year, is seen as a leading Blair supporter.

'Staggering'

He is quoted in the Guardian as saying: "Tony would always support his key people. Gordon should do that with his people."

Mr Clarke added that the loyalty shown to the prime minister now was in contrast to that displayed by Mr Brown towards his predecessor.

He said: "It is staggering given his disloyalty to Tony."

Mr Clarke added that there would have been "massive controversy" in the Labour Party in previous decades over the "British jobs for British workers" slogan.

Just as I worked with Tony Blair, I work with all my colleagues in the Cabinet Gordon Brown

But he went on: "Ask the MPs here [in Westminster] and there are a large number who are appalled but are loyal to the leader and haven't spoken out about it."

Mr Clarke was critical of the decision to appoint Lord Malloch Brown, the former deputy secretary general at the United Nations and a critic of the Iraq war, to a ministerial role at the Foreign Office.

He said: "I think the appointment of Malloch Brown was foolish."

He added: "Getting him making the statement on national security rather than the home secretary was foolish. Gordon should have let [Home Secretary] Jacqui [Smith] do that."

Speaking at his monthly Downing Street press conference, Mr Brown said: "All the discussions that we have in the Cabinet revolve around the important long-term challenges we face.

"And just as I worked with Tony Blair, I work with all my colleagues in the Cabinet."

'No apology'

On "British jobs for British workers", he added that it was right that people who were inactive are brought back into work.

He would "make no apology" for entering partnership agreements with companies to get the unemployed into jobs, Mr Brown said.

Earlier this year, Mr Clarke said he had considered running against Mr Brown for the Labour leadership but had decided there was "no appetite for that kind of contest in the party".

In February, he and former health secretary Alan Milburn launched a website, The 2020 Vision, to debate future policies with both the party and the public.