Former cabinet minister and Blair supporter, Stephen Byers has called for Inheritance Tax (IHT) to be abolished, inflaming tensions between the prime minister's office and allies of chancellor Gordon Brown.

Byers made the comments in the weekend press, prompting an immediate reponse from the chancellor's supporters. Trade secretary Alistair Darling defended the tax, stating that revenue from Inheritance tax, paid by 6% of estates, gave £3bn a year to state coffers.

Byers argued that rising house prices were making the estates of the middle classes liable for big tax bills.

Byers instead called for higher environmental taxes, saying that the proportion of green taxation had down from 3.6% to 2.9% in seven years.

Debates about death duties are not uncommon in the profession, though political involvement in the arguments is more rare. Byers' remarks will be seen as particularly harmful to Gordon Brown's controversial attempts to crack down on avoidance of the tax.