Cherie Blair has poached a key member of staff from the Prime Minister's country residence Chequers to work at her own mansion just down the road.
She has persuaded housekeeper Ann Hubble to leave Gordon and Sarah Brown and join her and husband Tony at their £4million property a few miles away.
The Blairs knew Mrs Hubble from weekends spent at Chequers - an Elizabethan manor house set in 1,000 acres of Buckinghamshire countryside - during Mr Blair's decade as PM.
A friend of the couple confirmed Mrs Hubble had been offered a job at the seven-bedroom mansion, South Pavilion - their sixth home. He said: "They have a high regard for her. God knows what Gordon Brown thinks."
News of her departure comes just days after it emerged the Blairs had bought South Pavilion, once home to actor Sir John Gielgud. But Mrs Blair denied their new home with its 52ft-long drawing room was an attempt to create her own "mini-Chequers".
In an interview to promote her autobiography, Mrs Blair said: "The house is not like Chequers except that it is a country house. One thing Chequers taught us is that we like getting out of London at weekends. And for the last year we haven't had a place to escape to."
But a friend said: "There's no doubt that Cherie is keen to recreate the lifestyle to which she had become accustomed."
Last night a spokesman for Mrs Blair said: "It's a private matter so we would not comment."
The Blairs, who have hired a former Downing Street cleaning lady to work at their London home, are also said to be buying a seventh property - a £500,000 apartment in London's Docklands as a base for their eldest son Euan.
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