Two weeks later, on May 31, Blair and Brown met in a small restaurant in North London, and debated who should take over the party leadership. By the end of their discussion, they had made a double deal: Brown would stand aside and support Blair as the next party leader; in return, Blair would later give up the leadership to him.
布朗一直渴望成为首相，这可以追溯到1994年5月12日，在这个决定命运的日子里，工党在野领袖约翰·史密斯因心脏病发作猝死。两周后，即5月31日，布莱尔与布朗在北伦敦的一家小餐馆里会面，讨论谁应该接掌工党。讨论结束后，他们达成了双重交易：布朗靠边站，支持布莱尔成为下任工党领袖；作为回报，布莱尔以后要把领袖职位交给他。