Tony Blair and Gordon Brown will make a joint appearance in the party's first election broadcast on Monday night.

The prime minister and chancellor will talk frankly about the challenges they have faced together, the way they work and the lessons they have learnt.

Brown will say: "It's about working as a team, it's about trying to take things forward, it's about trying to break new ground all the time."

Blair will tell the chancellor: "This government would have been a far diminished government if it hadn't been for what you brought to it."

The Times says the reconciliation occured after a meeting three weeks ago between Brown, Alastair Campbell and Labour's polling chief, Lord Gould of Brookwood.

The Independent, meanwhile, reports that Blair and Brown have reached a secret pact guaranteeing the chancellor's central role in a future Labour government until the handover of power when the prime minister steps down.