While outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair has been described as the most colourful, TV-friendly leader the nation has had in decades, the adjectives most commonly attached to his successor are dour, obsessed with secrecy, sour and unable to work with others.

Though few expect major changes in the way the U.K. is run when Chancellor of the
Exchequer Gordon Brown takes over as prime minister next week, most are under the impression he is the polar opposite to Blair.

They have indeed been an unlikely couple over the years they have worked together in government and lived as neighbours on Downing Street.

Observers have even compared them to a squabbling, old married couple -- a notion fuelled by rumours and gossip, such as the suggestion that Blair's wife Cherie loathes Brown, and that the chancellor is deeply resentful that Blair reneged on a deal the two made years ago.

Francis Beckett, a London-based writer and journalist and author of "Gordon Brown: Past, Present and Future," a recent biography and analysis of the chancellor, said the popular opinions of the two men are actually both far from the truth.

He said Brown is much more politically cautious than Blair, but is actually quite a personable, likable, and knowledgeable individual. Prior to entering politics he worked as a television interviewer and producer in Scotland -- a TV-friendly side of Brown that most Brits aren't familiar with.

"In the south of England when they use the word 'Scotsman' there's a tendency to add the word 'dour' in front of it, and Gordon Brown is described as a dour Scotsman when in fact he's nothing of the kind," Beckett tells CTV.ca from London.

Blair, a lawyer in his previous life, has mastered the art of playing the media and putting a positive spin on coverage, but his popularity has still fallen drastically in recent months, mostly over his handling of Britain's involvement in Iraq and close ties with U.S. President George Bush.

"The popular idea of the two men is almost totally wrong in every respect," Beckett said.

But the widespread reports of bitter, deep disdain between the two men are quite true. In fact, they're probably understated, Beckett says.

"The bitterness between them is such that they actually find it quite hard to do the business that they have to do together. They do it but they don't like it and they both wish they didn't have to," Beckett tells CTV.ca.

And the rumour that Cherie Blair hates Brown is almost a proven fact -- evidenced by her well-publicized behaviour at last year's Labour convention, Beckett says.

"Brown was delivering a speech, talking about his great admiration for the prime minister, and everyone who listened to it thought he was lying. But Cherie was watching on a television outside the main hall and she said quite loudly for everyone to hear 'That's a lie.'"

Though she later denied having said it, the comments were splashed across front pages the next day and Blair himself implicitly acknowledged in his own convention speech that she had said it.

"He made quite a good joke, he said 'at least I never had to worry about her running off with the bloke next door.' It wasn't a bad joke and it kind of defused the moment," Beckett says.

And there are legends that deeper resentment flows between the two men and their supporters, stemming from a dinner they had in 1994 when they decided -- according to myth -- that Brown would step aside to let Blair have a clear run at the Labour leadership.

But the deal, according to popular legend, was that Blair would resign halfway through his second term as prime minister and let Brown take the reins.

Beckett said the dinner-meeting definitely happened, but its significance has grown to mythical proportions over the years.

In reality, the meeting was just one of several between the two young Labour leaders, and Blair had already decided he would run, leaving it up to Brown to decide whether he would challenge. He decided not to.

The story becomes more murky at that point. According to legend, they agreed during the dinner that Blair would step aside halfway through his second term as PM, allowing Brown to take over. Brown said few people really know whether that promise was actually made.

"The Brownites have always claimed there was an exact pledge that was broken. The Blairites have always claimed there wasn't an exact pledge," he said.

The bitterness between the two camps and speculation about Blair's departure has been the subject of ongoing media reports, and earlier this year Downing Street even went so far as to release a statement denying that Brown was pressuring the prime minister to leave and claiming that their relationship was "vital and strong."

While Brown is not expected to make major changes when he takes office, it is clear he will be juggling the cabinet and appointing his own ministers. After that, there will be subtle "shifts" in policy that reflect Brown's more careful, cautious approach to governance, Beckett says.

One of his priorities will be to solve the dilemma the government faces over Blair's widely unpopular decision to commit British troops to the U.S. led war in Iraq -- something Beckett says Brown would never have done without evidence of weapons of mass destruction and an exit strategy.

"Tony Blair decided to live with that, our view is Gordon Brown would not have done, and will now seek the best way he can to extradite us from it. He will do it under the cover of fire, saying we die a wonderful thing there, but he knows we didn't," Beckett says.

Brown takes over as prime minister on June 27.