DAVID Miliband, the Environment Secretary and darling of the anti-Gordon Brown brigade, appeared to rule himself out of the Labour leadership race yesterday in an attempt to end speculation about his eventual intentions.

Speaking to the BBC, he said: "I'm not wavering...I am not a candidate."

Westminster cynics suggested he was keeping open his options but sources close to Mr Miliband last night insisted his remarks should be taken at face value.

The Chancellor's enemies - not necessarily Blairites - have been combing round for a plausible candidate to challenge him but with less than a month to go before the Prime Minister names the day of his departure the odds on a credible alternative to Mr Brown have lengthened considerably.

Although Tony Blair harbours doubts about the Chancellor's style he is expected to give him his wholehearted support when he announces his intention to stand down from office. During the Prime Minister's monthly Downing Street news conference yesterday Mr Blair refused to be drawn on a date but he is expected to trigger the race for his successor during the second week of May. Mr Blair had only praise for the Chancellor's record. While acknowledging the unexpected jump in the Consumer Prices index - the government's preferred measurement of inflation - to 3.1%, more than 1% above the government's 2% target, and the warning letter from Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, the Prime Minister said: "Name me a better Chancellor since the Second World War in this country. I challenge anyone to name me a Chancellor with a better economic record than this one. If you look at the inflation record of this government, it is superb."

During the press conference, Mr Blair pointedly criticised the SNP's campaign in the run-up to the Scottish elections on May 3.

Asked why Labour's campaign appeared to falter at the expense of the SNP, he said: "What the SNP have decided is that there is a way of trying to divorce themselves from the policy of independence by offering a referendum. What is important for people to understand is that from the moment you get an SNP government the time until you get the referendum will be blighted and they will be using that intervening period in order to try to cause the maximum conflict with Westminister.

"When Mr Salmond was asked the other evening which of the following was his chief priority - the economy, health, education, law and order, or independence - he said independence. People should understand that."