If there is one thing Labour has always been good at it's civil war and internal blood letting.

Harold Wilson was in a state of near-permanent paranoia about who was out to get him from his own side.

He even created the infamous "kitchen cabinet" of his most trusted allies in a bid to ensure the enemies within never gained any advantage over him.

Then there was the bloody left-right battle throughout the 1970s which eventually led to a full-scale split, with the Gang of Four stalking out of the party to start the SDP.

And then in the 1980s Neil Kinnock had to deal with the Militant tendency which was intent on turning Labour into a Marxist party.

And even now, despite all the puff about New Labour and rigid party discipline, another internal war has sparked the first major crisis of the Blair government.

What is most damaging this time, however, is that this civil war was being fought between the camps of the two most powerful men in the government - the prime minister and his chancellor.

'Psychologically flawed'

Claims that the two men weren't aware of the often bitter briefings being given by their spin doctors against their rivals are laughable.

The description of Gordon Brown as "psychologically flawed" by one unnamed source was probably the worst example of the feud in operation.

The chancellor's refusal to put his own ex-spin doctor, Charlie Whelan, under Downing Street control was another and Mr Blair's reshuffle, which saw Brown's allies demoted or neutered, was yet another.

It was bound to come to a sticky end, and it did - with the resignations of Peter Mandelson, Geoffrey Robinson and Charlie Whelan.

Who leaked what to who about whose business affairs and personal loans is a puzzle that will keep the political navel-gazers amused for years.

What is certain is that it was the leaks, briefings and counter-briefings between the two camps that sparked the Mandelson-Robinson row and pitched Tony Blair into the crisis.

And the problems are not going away. Margaret Cook's memoirs have painted a bleak picture of the internal rivalries within the party, while at the same time branding the foreign secretary a drunken adulterer. There will be more of that to come.

Private jets

Even Cabinet "enforcer" Jack Cunningham - never known for his frugal lifestyle - has come under the spotlight over his use of private jets for official business.

What has astonished many in Westminster is that the party which prided itself on its internal discipline and its ability to manipulate the media has been brought to its current low by dramatic failures in exactly those areas.

The spin doctors - Mr Mandelson and Mr Whelan chief amongst them - not only failed in their prime directive but actually created the problem.

As a result the entire New Labour "project" - and there are as many definitions of that as there are ministers - is starting to creak.

There is widespread speculation about a powerful alliance between John Prescott and Gordon Brown to stamp on Mr Blair's dreams of any closer links with the Lib Dems.

And those dismayed by the direction of the New Labour government are seizing on the fall of its chief architect, Mr Mandelson, to hammer home their demands for more traditional policies.

So Tony Blair has returned from the "Black Christmas" that has seriously damaged Labour's reputation with a plea for people to concentrate on policies rather than personalities and other "froth".

US-style campaigning

He has even warned that Britain must not go down the same road as the US in its approach to politics.

Many see that as a bit rich coming from the party that started Britain down the road towards US-style campaigning.

What the prime minister must do now is knock a few heads together and reassert his authority.