Ed Balls suggested yesterday that the Conservative Party may have played a part in leaking his private papers charting Gordon Brown's attempts to dislodge Tony Blair as Prime Minister.

The documents, which surfaced in The Daily Telegraph, showed how Mr Brown's allies, including Mr Balls and Ed Miliband, began planning a swift and smooth Blair-to-Brown transition soon after the 2005 general election.

Last night, more documents were released highlighting advice from civil servants dating back to 2006 recommending that public spending should rise no faster than the rate of inflation and calling for inefficiencies to be cut. Critics said this showed Mr Brown had ignored advice prior to the credit crunch, which left Britain with a deficit. The documents also indicated Mr Brown was aware that abolishing the 10p rate of income tax would leave millions worse off, something he denied.