Parliamentary Correspondent Robert Merrick delves into Alasdair Campbell's diaries.

FORMER North-East MP Mo Mowlam flaunted her naked body in the bath in front of Alastair Campbell, the ex-spin doctor's diaries reveal.

The long-awaited book by Tony Blair's key aide, published yesterday, records how the then Redcar MP invited him in to a shared bathroom in a Dublin hotel - where she was wearing nothing but a plastic hat.

More seriously, the diaries lay bare the reasons for the long-running feud between Darlington MP Alan Milburn and the new Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.

And they illustrate Mr Campbell's closeness to Mr Blair by noting the then Prime Minister was "hurt" when the spin doctor failed to attend Leo Blair's christening in Sedgefield, County Durham.

In September 1995, Mr Campbell recalls his "extraordinary start to the day" when he knocked on the door of the shared bathroom between his and Dr Mow-lam's rooms.

He writes: "'Come in,' she shouted cheerily. I pushed open the door and there she was in all her glory, lying in the bath with nothing but a big plastic hat on.

"I brushed my teeth, trying not to look in the mirror, where I could see Mo splashing around, and decided to shave later.

"She seemed totally unbothered by me seeing her naked in a bath without the suds."

However, Mr Campbell is repeatedly harsh about what he calls Ms Mowlam's "ineptitude at negotiations" while she was Northern Ireland Secretary in the late 1990s.

Mr Blair was accused of sidelining Ms Mowlam in 1999 because of jealousy at her popularity, but the book records his dismay at her failure to nail down crucial details.

Later, Mr Campbell recalls a three-hour discussion on political strategy at Chequers in March 2000, in which "Peter Mandelson and Milburn were OK, Mo all over the shop".

Scattered throughout the diaries are references to Mr Milburn's anger, when he was Health Secretary, at Chancellor Mr Brown's trampling on his turf.

In November 2001, Mr Campbell writes: "TB saw GB and Alan Milburn, who was livid, said that basically GB was trying to use his position to take over NHS policy, and he wasn't having it."

The following day, Mr Milburn was "incandescent" when the Chancellor gave an interview in which he appeared to agree "the NHS was all crap".

Furious at Mr Brown's intervention in the health debate, he records Mr Milburn as saying: "Can I go out now and make a speech saying that the economy ought to be doing a lot better?"

When , in April 2003, Mr Milburn was told that Mr Brown was about to announce a review of the NHS in the Budget, he "hit the roof".

The diary records: "Alan came to see TB pre-Cabinet. He was totally on the rampage. He said it was just unacceptable to have a Chancellor announce a major change in someone else's department without even discussing it."

When Mr Milburn resigned as Health Secretary in June 2003, for family reasons, Mr Campbell writes: "Alan said he felt wretched doing it now, but he felt he had no choice."

Mr Campbell reveals how, in April 2001, he mistakenly announced Britain's support for the "Son of Star Wars" missile defence scheme, involving the upgrade of the Fylingdales base, in North Yorkshire.

The diaries say: "TB wanted us to stay neutral, leaning towards the positive, but by the end of the day, it was up big time, because I answered 'Yes'."

And he reveals how Mr Blair was "hurt" when Mr Campbell chose not to attend Leo Blair's christening at St John Fisher Church, in Sedgefield, in July 2000. Mr Campbell did not go because it was his own son's birthday, but writes: "Added to which we didn't do the God thing."

Iraq: 'Secrets and lies'

THE diaries reveal former Prime Minister Tony Blair was privately discussing the need for regime change in Baghdad a year before the 2003 invasion, at a time when he was publicly denying this could be a justification for war against Iraq.

And they reveal arrangements were made for a caretaker administration headed by John Prescott if defeat in the key House of Commons vote on the war forced Mr Blair to quit.

Mr Campbell writes that Mr Blair had to persuade him not to quit immediately after hearing of the apparent suicide of Government scientist David Kelly.

Mr Campbell had led the attack on BBC reports based on Dr Kelly's doubts over the presentation of evidence on Iraq's supposed weapons arsenal, but the PM told him it would be "mad" to respond to his death by resigning.