Gordon Brown's Great Escape • UPDATES

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                                       British PM battles to survive as top ministers quit






Katherine Haddon
June 5, 2009
LONDON
(AFP)

– Britain's defence secretary dealt another body blow to Gordon Brown by quitting on Friday, hours after a cabinet colleague had resigned calling for the prime minister to stand down.

Six of Brown's ministers, four of them in the cabinet, have resigned in the past week and further pressure building on the British leader with his Labour Party facing heavy losses in local and European elections.

In a shock move as polls closed late Thursday, James Purnell stepped down as Work And Pensions Secretary and called on Brown to resign, prompting the premier to reshuffle his government in a bid to relaunch his leadership.

Hours later, Defence Secretary John Hutton stepped down citing family reasons, media reported.

Purnell is so far the only one stepping down to knife Brown on the way out with a resignation call.

"I now believe that your continued leadership makes a Conservative victory more, not less, likely. That would be disastrous for our country," Purnell wrote in his resignation letter to Brown.

"I am therefore calling on you to stand aside to give our party a fighting chance of winning. As such I am resigning from government."

A general election must be held by mid-2010, which the main opposition Conservatives are tipped to win over Labour, according to opinion polls.

Both Purnell and Hutton are seen as Blairites -- supporters of the modernising agenda of former premier Tony Blair, and not natural Brown allies.

Brown's reshuffle Friday is likely to see heavyweights like finance minister Alistair Darling and Foreign Secretary David Miliband keep their jobs, media said, despite reports that Brown had wanted to move them.

Health Secretary Alan Johnson also looks set to take over from Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.

Smith plus Communities Secretary Hazel Blears and two junior ministers all indicated they would step down this week.

The reshuffle comes as local election results come in after Thursday's vote. The picture looks bleak for Labour -- with only three of 34 councils declared, the ruling party has lost 23 seats, compared to the Conservatives who have gained 18.

Results of European Parliament elections also held Thursday will not be published until Sunday, in line with the rest of the continent.

Opinion polls suggested Labour could suffer some of its worst ever results and finish behind the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats, and even fringe eurosceptics the United Kingdom Independence Party.

Nevertheless, there was little sign of high-level support for Purnell early Friday as a series of ministers toured television and radio studios defending Brown.

Johnson, seen by many commentators as the most likely replacement for Brown, told reporters: "I continue to believe that Gordon Brown is the best man for the job.

"It is vital now, more than ever, that we unite for the sake of the party and the government."

Miliband, also seen as a Blairite, said he did not share Purnell's judgement of the situation and insisted: "Today is a day for working, not resigning".

Brown was "disappointed" by Purnell's departure and was now concentrating on "restructuring the government", a spokesman for his Downing Street office said.

Conservative leader David Cameron, tipped by polls to be prime minister within a year, said Purnell's resignation showed the government was "falling apart in front of our eyes" and renewed his call for a snap general election.

Purnell said in his resignation letter he was not standing for the leadership himself.

In power since 1997, Labour has been badly hit by the scandal over lavish expense claims from the public purse by lawmakers which has seen 17 lawmakers say they will step down since it broke.

Public anger is particularly high as Britain struggles with the worst recession since World War II.

Media have reported that a group of rebel MPs are circulating a letter calling on Brown to step down which they will hand to him Monday after all election results are in.

Labour Party rules state that 72 MPs must sign a motion of no-confidence to trigger a leadership election. Labour currently has 350 MPs, a majority of 63.

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                                               Hutton quits in cabinet reshuffle 






BBC NEWS
June 5, 2009


John Hutton:
 
"I'm not deserting Gordon, I'm not deserting my party"


Defence Secretary John Hutton has become the latest minister to quit the government - although he says he will remain loyal to Gordon Brown.

It comes after James Purnell quit as work and pensions secretary with a call for the PM to "stand aside" to prevent Labour defeat at the next election.

Mr Brown is reshuffling his top team as he fights for his political future.

Alan Johnson moves to the Home Office but Chancellor Alistair Darling and other key figures stay in place.

Universities Secretary John Denham is expected to succeed Hazel Blears as communities secretary - after earlier suggestions he might replace Mr Johnson at health.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Yvette Cooper is expected to replace Mr Purnell as work and pensions secretary.

Mr Hutton said he thought fellow Blairite minister James Purnell had made "the wrong decision".

"I'm standing down from the cabinet today because I'm leaving frontline politics," Mr Hutton told the BBC.

"I'm not going to be contesting my seat in the next general election and I think it's absolutely right that Gordon, who I'm supporting as our prime minister and party leader, should have a cabinet that's going to take him through the next election and beyond."

He denied that as the fourth cabinet minister to quit in recent days he was "leaving a sinking ship".

BBC Political Editor Nick Robinson said Mr Hutton's decision not to attack Mr Brown - coupled with the loyalty of Alan Johnson, who was tipped by some backbenchers as a possible leadership contender - had shored up his position as prime minister.

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                         Scandal in Britain pushes voters toward far-right political parties
           






Julie Sell,
Mcclatchy Newspapers
– Wed Jun 3, 2009
LONDON

— Britain's political crisis escalated Wednesday with new calls for Prime Minister Gordon Brown to quit amid a sudden string of resignations by his Cabinet officials and Labor Party allies. Opposition politicians charged that the government was "collapsing" and "in total meltdown."

The timing of resignations of senior government officials couldn't have been worse, coming on the eve of Thursday's national elections for local councils and European parliamentary seats. Polls have found Labor with abysmal public support, with voters indicating that they may vent their disgust by turning to fringe and far-right parties that want to distance Britain from the European Union . A similar increase in support for far-right parties is seen elsewhere in Europe .

All three of Britain's main political parties, Labor, Conservative and Liberal Democrat, have been damaged by a recent scandal over abuse of expense accounts by members of Parliament, but Brown's Labor government is bearing the brunt of the criticism.

The expenses-related resignations this week of Home Secretary Jacqui Smith , who was responsible for immigration, policing and the intelligence services, and then Communities Secretary Hazel Blears , who was responsible for running the local elections Thursday, moved the scandal a step closer to Brown.

Brown recently criticized Blears, a 4-foot 10-inch redhead who often rides a motorcycle in full leather jacket and pants, for failing to pay capital-gains taxes on an apartment transaction. Exiting the prime minister's office on Wednesday morning, she wore a brooch that read: "Rocking the boat." News of her resignation broke just before Brown was due to appear in Parliament at midday, and opposition politicians were quick to attack.

"The government is collapsing before our eyes," Conservative Party leader David Cameron charged during a verbal slugfest with Brown, repeating calls for a general election as soon as possible.

"The country doesn't have a government, it has a void — Labor is finished," chimed in Nick Clegg , the leader of the Liberal Democrats. "The prime minister is thrashing around, fighting for his own political survival." Clegg warned of the danger that "people feel there's no one in charge."

Brown, who's fought back from near-political death before, gave a robust defense in the House of Commons .

Public disgust over the expenses scandal has reached such a point that the Archbishop of Canterbury , the leader of the Church of England , recently made an unprecedented statement recently urging voters not to support far-right groups such as the British National Party .

The anti-immigration group, which was formed by former members of the extremist National Front and wants Britain to break away from the EU, is the fastest growing political party in Britain . It's been on the rise since the 1980s.

Matthew Goodwin , a research fellow at the University of Manchester , said the BNP could also benefit from voter apathy on Thursday. "When we have low turnout, we tend to have stronger performance for the BNP," Goodwin said.

Recent polls suggest the BNP could attract 7 percent of the vote on Thursday, enough to win it a seat in the European Parliament. The party already has more than 50 elected local councilors across Britain and a seat on the Greater London Assembly .

The UK Independence Party , another conservative party also known as Ukip, is expected to pick up protest votes from Britons disillusioned with the major parties, Goodwin said. Ukip, which also wants Britain to leave the EU, has polled as high as 16 percent in the run-up to Election Day .

Goodwin said far-right parties across Europe — in Britain , France , Hungary , Sweden , the Czech Republic and Belgium — are cooperating more closely than in the past.

Their aim is to form "a unified bloc" in the European Parliament that can oppose Turkey's entry into the EU, and push for more limits on immigration.

French, Italian and Belgian far-right parties already have a significant presence in the European Parliament.



(Sell is a McClatchy special correspondent.)

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                                                          Brown defies calls to resign 



                                                     "I won't walk away", insists Brown 







BBC NEWS
June 5, 2009

If I didn't think I was the right person, leading the right team, I would not be standing here."

Gordon Brown has unveiled a reshuffled cabinet and vowed to "fight on" with his "resilient" team to rescue the economy and clean up politics.

He admitted Labour had suffered "a painful defeat" in Thursday's polls but added: "I will not waver. I will not walk away. I will get on with the job."

And he unveiled Glenys Kinnock as Europe minister in a surprise move.

Two more cabinet ministers - Geoff Hoon and John Hutton - have stepped down but neither backed a challenge to the PM.


 CABINET RESHUFFLE



NEW JOBS:

Alan Johnson - Home secretary
Andy Burnham - Health
Yvette Cooper - Work and pensions
Bob Ainsworth - Defence
John Denham - Communities
Liam Byrne - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Ben Bradshaw - Culture
Lord Adonis - Transport
Peter Hain - Welsh Office
Glenys Kinnock - Europe (non-Cabinet post)
Sir Alan Sugar - Enterprise tsar (non-Cabinet post)



QUITTING:

John Hutton
James Purnell
Jacqui Smith
Hazel Blears
Geoff Hoon
Paul Murphy
Caroline Flint(Minister of State)
Tony McNulty(Minister of State)
Margaret Beckett(Minister of State)



Speaking at a Downing Street media conference, Mr Brown said the current political crisis, fuelled by the Westminster expenses scandal "is a test of everyone's nerve - mine, the government's, the country's".

He added: "If I didn't think I was the right person to lead these challenges I would not be standing here.

"I have faith in doing my duty... I believe in never walking away in difficult times."

Mr Brown defended Chancellor Alistair Darling as a "very good personal friend" and said the idea that the pair were split over the economy was "ridiculous".

Three new ministerial councils - the Democratic Renewal Council, the Domestic Policy Council and an enhanced National Economic Council - would report weekly to the cabinet, said Mr Brown.

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Mandelson's role



But speculation about his future continued as Labour MP Ian Gibson said he was standing down to force a by-election in Norwich North - and said he thinks Mr Brown's days "are close to being numbered".

BBC Political Editor Nick Robinson said if ministers had followed James Purnell in calling for Mr Brown to quit "we would today have had a new prime minister".


 
 Several of the women attending Cabinet - myself included - have been treated by you as little more than female window dressing

Caroline Flint, former Europe minister


Flint's 'window dressing' attack 

But the PM had still been forced to carry out an "emergency reshuffle based on his own personal survival", which had left him "not that much stronger".

In other moves, Alan Johnson becomes home secretary and Andy Burnham succeeds him at health.

Caroline Flint has quit as Europe minister, with Glenys Kinnock, wife of former Labour leader Neil Kinnock, who recently stood down as an MEP as her successor - she will be appointed to the House of Lords to be able to take the job.

Ms Flint is understood to have quit after Mr Brown failed to promote her to a full cabinet job.

In her resignation letter she launches a stinging attack on Mr Brown for allegedly treating women ministers "like female window dressing" and running a "two tier cabinet".

She said Mr Brown had "strained every sinew" of her loyalty to the government.

There has been speculation all week that Ms Flint was about to quit, yet she had taken to the airwaves to defend Mr Brown and declare her loyalty to him.

Labour's deputy leader, and minister for women and equality, Harriet Harman: "I can understand the frustration of any woman in politics, but I don't accept that Gordon doesn't take women in politics seriously - not at all."


Alan Johnson: "To be in this position is a privilege"
Lord Mandelson's role has been expanded, giving him responsibility for higher education and training.

In what Nick Robinson said amounted to a deputy prime minister's role, he has also been given the titles of First Secretary of State and Lord President of the Council.

Mr Hoon has agreed to be the prime minister's European policy adviser ahead of the climate change talks in Copenhagen at the end of the year.

Bob Ainsworth becomes defence secretary and Peter Hain returns to the cabinet in his old job of Welsh Secretary. Ben Bradshaw joins the cabinet for the first time as culture secretary and Lord Adonis takes over at transport.

Universities Secretary John Denham succeeds Hazel Blears as communities secretary and Yvette Cooper replaces Mr Purnell as work and pensions secretary, with Liam Byrne replacing her as Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

Margaret Beckett and Tony McNulty are amongst those leaving the cabinet, the latter quitting his job as employment minister in an effort to clear his name over allegations about his expenses claims which are being investigated by the standards watchdog.

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Election losses



John Hutton earlier quit as defence secretary and James Purnell quit on Thursday as work and pensions secretary - but no ministers have so far backed Mr Purnell's call for Mr Brown to "stand aside".

 Many Labour backbenchers who were ready to call for a change of leader will now be asking themselves: 'If they're not willing to act to end this, why should I?'

Mr Hutton backed the prime minister and said he thought fellow Blairite Mr Purnell had made "the wrong decision" in calling for him to quit.

Alan Johnson, touted by some backbenchers as a possible leadership challenger, said he backed Mr Brown "to the hilt" to continue as prime minister.

He said he would "never say never" to becoming Labour leader at some point but could see no circumstances at present where he would mount a bid for the job.

He added that he was "really pleased" to be going to the Home Office, describing the job - regarded as something of a poisoned chalice - as an "invigorating challenge".

Dr Gibson - stripped of the right to stand for Labour at the next election because of his expenses - said he would stand down now to trigger what is likely to be a potentially difficult by-election for Labour.

With the majority of results now in, the scale of Labour's defeat at the English local elections is also clear after it lost control of its four remaining English county councils.

According to the BBC's projected share of the national vote at a general election, based on the English local election results in so far, the Conservatives would poll 38%, the Lib Dems 28% and Labour would be third on 23%.


Cameron hails Tory election gains
Conservative leader David Cameron said it showed his party was on course to win the next general election, adding that Labour had "lost the right to govern".

"We have clearly won this election and turned in some remarkably good results," he told BBC News.

Mr Clegg said Mr Brown's future as PM was "irrelevant" because the Labour government was "finished".

Labour is braced for another poor performance when the results of European elections are announced on Sunday.

And, in sign of the continuing febrile atmosphere, Nick Robinson said Gordon Brown had been forced to defend his expenses again over suggestions in the Daily Telegraph he claimed for electricity bills and service charges on two properties between 2005 and 2007.

A 10 spokesman insisted Mr Brown had complied with the rules at all times, a fact backed up by the Commons authorities, but he had agreed to repay about £180 "for the avoidance of doubt".

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                                      Britain's Brown refuses to quit as prime minister
           





David Stringer,
Associated Press Writer 
Fri Jun 5, 2009
LONDON

– British Prime Minister Gordon Brown battled desperately Friday to keep his job, ignoring demands to quit amid a flurry of Cabinet resignations and a swelling rebellion in the ranks of his Labour Party.

Brown, who waited impatiently for a decade to inherit his job from Tony Blair, promoted loyalists to Cabinet posts in a shake-up of his team aimed at restoring his credibility. It follows a scandal over lawmakers' expenses and catastrophic results in local elections.

His actions failed to quell a mood of dissent among rank-and-file legislators, or stem a procession of walkouts by once-loyal colleagues. Caroline Flint quit her post as Europe minister — one of 10 ministers to resign out of 23 — and accused Brown of keeping her as "female window dressing" in a male-dominated Cabinet.

Dissident legislators said a plot to oust Brown could gather pace when expected dismal results in the European Parliament elections are announced Sunday.

"I will not waver. I will not walk away. I will get on with the job," Brown told reporters. He insisted he won't be forced from office and said he can defy all predictions by winning a national election that must be called by June 2010.

Opponents say Brown is tainted by the economic crisis and the expenses scandal, has little authority over his ranks and is so unpopular that his governing Labour Party is doomed to defeat when voters next have a chance to choose a government.

Britain's main opposition Conservative Party routed Brown's party in local elections Thursday, winning council seats in former Labour strongholds in northern and central England.

"I now believe your continued leadership makes a Conservative victory more, not less, likely," Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell told Brown late Thursday in a letter, quitting his Cabinet post.

Despite his insistence that he can revive Labour's fortunes, analysts said Brown's position as British leader is in serious peril. "I don't see what Brown can do. I think the damage has gone too deep now," said Pete Dorey, a political scientist at the University of Cardiff.

Brown spent much of Friday huddled in a basement office in his official Downing Street residence, shuffling Post-it notes bearing the names of lawmakers as he finalized his Cabinet shake-up.

Outside, results of British local elections showed a collapse in support for his party, which has held power in Britain since 1997. Brown's Labour looked likely to be pushed into third place behind the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, according to initial results.

He faces an imminent new electoral test after lawmaker Ian Gibson said Friday he would resign from the House of Commons immediately, triggering a special election within weeks. Gibson had been criticized in the expenses scandal.

Brown's government has suffered the most in a scandal over lawmakers' expense claims, blamed for failing to reform a system that allowed legislators from all parties to charge for items such as horse manure, **** movies and repairs to the moat of a country mansion.

"He looks like a wounded animal at the moment," said consultant Lance Doughty, walking by London's Parliament building. "I think it's really tough for him to stay where he is."

Alan Johnson — often mentioned as a replacement for Brown and promoted Thursday to Home secretary — urged colleagues to unite behind the leader despite the latest election results. "It is vital now, more than ever, that we unite for the sake of the party and the government," he said.

Brown promoted Yvette Cooper, deputy Treasury chief, to a high profile job as Work and Pensions secretary to replace Purnell and drafted the largely unknown Bob Ainsworth to become the new Defense secretary.

Treasury chief Alistair Darling was kept in his post, despite concern over his expenses. Darling repaid some money after acknowledging mistakes in his claims and has faced criticism over his manipulation of the housing allowances.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband and Business Secretary Peter Mandelson also retained their posts.

Alan Sugar, a brash businessman and host of the British version of "The Apprentice" television show, was appointed a member of the House of Lords and given a new role to promote entrepreneurship and help stimulate Britain's economy.

International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander said Labour lawmakers must decide whether to pledge loyalty to Brown and his new team, or support plots to oust him. Lawmakers "have a serious judgment to make in the hours ahead," Alexander told BBC radio.

A group of legislators have mulled collecting signatures to an e-mail statement calling on Brown to resign, but have yet to make their campaign public.

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                                     Lord Falconer demands Gordon Brown resignation






TimesOnLine.com
June7, 2009

Sam Coates, Chief Political Correspondent Gordon Brown today faced another heavyweight call for him to resign, hours before the European election results pose the next big test for his embattled leadership.

Lord Falconer of Thoroton, the former Lord Chancellor, called for an “urgent debate” within the Labour Party on the future of the Prime Minister.

The former flatmate of Tony Blair said that the party may be unable to restore the unity it needed as long as Mr Brown was at the helm.

“I think we are moving moderately quickly towards the need for a change and that change may be a change in leadership,” he told the Politics Show on BBC One.
 
“We need unity above all. Can we get unity under the current leadership? I am not sure that we can and we need to debate it urgently and I think probably it will need a change in leader.”

Lord Falconer, who hinted that he would make such a call last week, warned that if Mr Brown did not stand down there were candidates waiting in the wings who could challenge him.

“The Prime Minister first of all has got to consider what he thinks the mood of the party is. If he concludes that he should go then there will be a leadership election,” he said.

“If on the other hand he concludes that’s not the position, then, in the light of what’s been happening, somebody — and I think there’ll be more than one — can decide whether or not they would wish to seek the 70 signatures that would be required to challenge a leader.”

He acknowledged that replacing Mr Brown would mean an early general election, but said that the party would go to the country in a stronger position.

“I think that the general election would come earlier rather than later if that was to happen but I think we would go to the country united with policy solutions.”

Although this will spur Mr Brown’s opponents, the fact that yet another Blairite has joined the list could make things more difficult for the plotters.

They are trying desperately to counter suggestions that this is a coup by allies of the former Prime Minister, pointing out that Meg Munn, Nick Raynsford, Graham Allen and Barry Sheerman are also among those who have demanded that Mr Brown quit or face a challenge.

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Speaking on the BBC this morning, Mr Raynsford, a former local government minister, appeared to suggest that Labour’s defeat at the next election was inevitable and that a change of leader would only cushion the blow and save some Labour MPs’ seats.

The call comes in the worst week of Mr Brown’s premiership to date. The past five days have seen the resignation of seven Cabinet ministers, high-profile challenges to his authority from James Purnell and Caroline Flint and the worst local council results in Labour's history.

At 10pm tonight the European election results could show Labour in 4th place with the party slumping to below 20 per cent of the vote, with particular recriminations if the British National Party gains a seat.

Peter Hain, who has returned to the Cabinet as Welsh Secretary, today predicted “terrible” results for Labour in the European election.
 
“The results are going to be terrible — there’s no point beating about the bush on that — terrible for Labour. And I suspect terrible for all the mainstream parties, as indeed the council elections were.”

Despite all the turmoil, Mr Brown, with the help of Lord Mandelson, used a wide-ranging reshuffle on Friday to bind in potential dissidents, such as David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, and Alan Johnson, now Home Secretary.

This has bolstered Mr Brown’s position just as the rebels — who last week claimed that they had 80 names of Labour MPs who want Brown out ready to be published — appeared to have faltered.

The Times has spoken this morning to leading opponents of Mr Brown within the Parliamentary Labour Party who admit that the rebellion needs to pick up pace. They hope that dreadful European election results will prompt a rethink from senior Cabinet figures.

“They will have a reason to review their position when these results coming. There may be some people then who are prepared to act.”

Lord Mandelson addressed this point this morning by warning Labour MPs that the party would have to hold a general election if they got rid of another leader.

“If we were to have a third leader in a single parliament it would mean irresistible pressure to hold a general election,” he told The Andrew Marr Show, on BBC One.

Lord Mandelson, who was effectively anointed as deputy prime minister in last week’s Cabinet reshuffle, said that he did not know whether rebel Labour backbenchers were plotting to oust Mr Brown. But he made clear that he did not believe that a coup attempt by the so-called “peasants revolt” would succeed.

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“It would require somebody to stand against him, somebody who is raising their standard and saying that they could do a better job and we don’t have that person,” he said.

He acknowledged that the Government was going through a period of turbulence, but insisted that it was still possible to turn the situation around.

“I am not saying that public opinion will turn on a sixpence but if we concentrate on what we believe in, our policies and what we are good at, then we will be able to turn public opinion,” he said.

Asked about his message to would-be rebels, he said: “Stop taking shots at the Prime Minister because you are simply going to make the position of the party and the Government even worse.”

Lord Mandelson dismissed the current furore surrounding Mr Brown’s leadership as media “hyperbole”.

“We are going through in this country great turbulence with occasional flashes of thunder and lightning. We have an enormous amount of hyperbole that passes for journalism,” he said.

He rejected reports that he had clashed with Ed Balls , the Children’s Secretary and one of Mr Brown’s closest allies, who was said to have blamed the Business Secretary for blocking his appointment as Chancellor in the reshuffle.

“Ed and I talked on the phone yesterday and laughed out loud about this stupid fabrication. It is complete artifice and it is mischievous artifice,” he said.

He also dismissed a leaked e-mail which he sent last year before he rejoined the Government, in which he frankly discussed Mr Brown’s character flaws, portraying him as a complex, insecure and angry man.

“It was not hostile to or about the Prime Minister,” he said. “What it said is that the Prime Minister needs to be what he is, be what he stands for and believes in an the values he has and not listen to people who are trying to glue some artificial persona on to him.

“The Prime Minister is a politician not a pop star. He concentrates on getting his policies right, not being a showman.”

A YouGov poll of Labour party members for the News of the World today indicates that half of Labour’s own members want Gordon Brown to go, and that Alan Johnson is the leading candidate to succeed him. The poll conducted on Friday and Saturday after James Purnell’s resignation and the extent of Labour’s defeat in the local elections was becoming clear.

For Mr Brown himself, 54 per cent thought he was doing well, lower than all the surviving Cabinet members that YouGov asked about. Forty-four per cent of his own party thought he was doing a bad job.

Opinions of Mr Brown among his party members were mediocre: 40 per cent thought he was indecisive, 66 per cent that he was bad at communicating ideas and 41 per cent that he was weak. Only 25 per cent of Labour members said that he had handled the MPs’ expenses crisis better than the other party leaders.

Asked about Mr Brown’s future, 21 per cent of party members thought he should resign immediately, a further 26 per cent that he should resign before the next election.

Labour party members were broadly positive about the performance of nearly all the Government’s ministers that YouGov asked about. Seventy-five per cent approved of Alan Johnson’s performance, 70 per cent David Miliband’s, 65 per cent Lord Mandelson’s, 61 per cent Alistair Darling’s and 61 per cent Harriet Harman’s. According to the website UK Polling Report, the only Cabinet ministers who received negative ratings were two of those who have just left — Jacqui Smith, whom 63 per cent of Labour party members thought had been doing badly, and James Purnell, 50 per cent of whom thought had been doing badly.

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                                         European elections pound Britain's Brown






Ben Quinn –
CSM
Mon Jun 8, 2009
London

– Gordon Brown's hopes of clinging to power as Britain's prime minister have been dealt a potentially fatal blow after the ruling Labour Party suffered its worst results in 100 years following elections for the European Parliament and local councils.

The defeat came as many right-of-center and even some fringe parties made gains across Europe. In Britain, the key driver of election results appears to be the damaging revelations about the abuse of expenses by many members of parliament from all three major parties. The scandal has sparked widespread public anger and drove many voters into the arms of smaller political parties.

Mr. Brown was facing a showdown Monday with rebels in his own party, which finished with less then 16 percent of votes for the parliament in Brussels. That put Labour behind not just the resurgent center-right Conservative Party but also the smaller United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), which advocates Britain's withdrawal from the European Union.

The extreme right British National Party (BNP) made its first national breakthrough by winning two of Britain's European seats, both in the north of England. The gains for the anti-immigrant party, which has a whites-only membership policy, were made by its leader – a veteran far-right activist who cut his political teeth as a member of an organization founded on Adolf Hitler's birthday.

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Time for Brown to go?



Labour supporters waking up the morning after the European election were candid about the tumbling support for their party, which has ruled Britain since 1994.

"It's absolutely awful, it's a disaster for Labour," says Gavin Hayes, general secretary of Compass, a Labour pressure group that lobbies for the party to return to more left-of-center ground.

"But fundamentally there is absolutely no point in changing our leader unless the party changes direction," he argues, calling for a reconnection with Labour's traditional working-class base.

Brown is already fighting for his political life following a wave of resignations last week by ministers. The latest departure came Monday when junior minister Jane Kennedy said she had been sacked after refusing to pledge loyalty to him.

The prime minister was expected to attempt to win over restless Labour MPs at a meeting Monday by making a number of concessions on sensitive issues, such as granting an inquiry into Britain's involvement in the Iraq war and backing down on plans to privatize the postal system.

Labour's chief whip, Nick Brown, has urged rebels in the party to decide after the meeting whether to try to oust Gordon Brown or to pledge loyalty. The rebels, many of whom were admirers of Brown's predecessor and rival, Tony Blair, need the backing of 71 of Labour's 350 MPs to trigger a leadership contest, which would likely take place in about three weeks.

Jonathan Tonge, a professor of politics at the University of Liverpool and an expert on Labour's electoral fortunes, says rank-and-file Labour MPs have been broadly supportive of Brown in comparison to more senior figures, so their reaction to the election results would be crucial.

"[Monday's] results could not have been worse, leaving Labour clinging on to the lifeboat that Conservatives only moderately improved on their vote share," he says.

"But if Brown does go, and I think it is more likely that he will resign rather than being forced out in a leadership contest, the reality is that the party would enjoy only a temporary bounce in the polls which a new leader brings. That would not last, given the economic problems we face," he continues.

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Expenses-gate has 'driven voter anger'



In the other parties, the Conservatives won the largest proportion of votes with 29 percent. The result prompted its young leader, David Cameron, to claim that the party is on course to win the general election that will be held next year. The UKIP placed second, with 17 percent. Britain's third largest party, the Liberal Democrats, finished fourth.

UKIP leader Nigel Farage hailed his party's victory: "People voted for us because they agree that we should be friendly with Europe, that we should trade, but not that we should have our laws made there," he told the BBC.

However, most political analysts characterized the party's strong showing as largely due to voter anger over the expenses scandal.

"In my lifetime there has been never been an election so dominated by one issue to the of extent of the expenses issue," says Mick Temple, a political scientist at the University of Staffordshire. "It has driven voter anger, which has been directed mainly at Labour as the governing party rather than the Conservatives, even though both have been tainted."

"What we have also seen is a growth in substate nationalism, and what may be a new threat to the unity of the United Kingdom," he adds, pointing to the emergence of UKIP, the BNP, and success in local elections by another fringe party, the English Democrats, which wants England to have its own regional parliament similar to those in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

[Bianca]

Far right may not hold seats for long



He cautions against overestimating the breakthrough by the BNP, adding that it had succeeded largely because the Labour Party vote had collapsed. BNP's leader, Nick Griffin, won his seat despite getting fewer votes than in 2004, he points out.

"The fact now is that when the BNP are able to have more access to mainstream television and media outlets, most people will find that they are actually quite poor performers and that what they have to say is repulsive," he says.

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                                                 Gordon Brown's great escape•



                                           PM sees off rebels despite poll disaster


                                         • Silence as Clarke says he should resign






Patrick Wintour and
Allegra Stratton
The Guardian,
Tuesday 9 June 2009

A chastened Gordon Brown yesterday promised his backbench critics that he would learn from his mistakes, as he survived Labour's worst national election results since 1918 and some of the most personal attacks ever mounted on his governing style.

At a private inquest staged only hours after the party came third in the European parliamentary elections, with less than 16% of the vote, a rebel attempt to call for a secret ballot on his leadership was seen off by party loyalists.

Speaking to a packed meeting of Labour MPs and peers, Brown adopted a humble tone, saying: "Like everyone else, I have my strengths and weaknesses. I am going to play to my strengths and address my weaknesses.


Michael White on Gordon Brown's leadership difficulties:

Link to this audio "No doubt I have much to learn about a collective way of leading the party and the government. I have to learn how to be a full-time prime minister and a full-time leader of the Labour party." He said he wanted to stay leader, not for its own sake, but because he had a mission.

The Labour rebels claim to have 50 to 60 names expressing no confidence in his leadership, but after the meeting they decided not to publish the list, in essence abandoning the revolt for the moment.

But a rebel source said: "The issues which led to the parliamentary party's concerns all remain and the issues will not go away."

The rebels admitted that they had faced opposition to their revolt from MPs who saw no alternative leader coming forward, and fears that a new leader would have to stage an early election, at which Labour would be crushed.

In a long call for unity, dwelling over the party's history since the 1930s, Brown said the party had repeatedly failed when it was divided over policy, and pointed out that in all the ministerial resignation letters of the past week, there had not been a single politician who had cited policy differences inside the party.

He repeatedly promised to learn from his errors, adding "you simply cannot solve these problems through changes at the top". He insisted he was making an argument for unity and not a plea, adding that more work needed to be done to refine the party's policies on expenses, the economy and democracy.

Among more than 20 speakers, three former ministers - Charles Clarke, Fiona Mactaggart and Tom Harris - directly called for Brown to step down.

Clarke's call was listened to in silence, according to the Labour peer Lord Foulkes, but the former cabinet minister did not hold back in his criticisms, telling Brown directly: "You bear responsibility for this state of affairs that could destroy our party." He claimed Brown's "style of politics was based on dishonesty, dividing lines and bullying".

Loyalists were led by the former Labour leader Lord Kinnock who, in a lengthy address, warned: "In politics, division carries the death penalty". The former home secretary David Blunkett said the party "cannot take the bloodletting any longer. It is a case of put up or shut up".

Some leftwing rebels acknowledged that the prime minister had bought himself more time, but said their support was conditional on genuine signs that he would change his style and up his game.

But a critic of the rebels claimed that a call by Barry Sheerman, the children's select committee chairman, for a secret ballot of Labour MPs on the future of Brown's leadership "died on his lips".

A number of speakers called for the abandonment of the part-privatisation of the Royal Mail, but the prime minister made no commitments at the meeting. Government sources said he was going to defer selling a 30% equity stake in the business, but would go ahead with the legislation as early as this summer.

Earlier the environment minister Jane Kennedy quit the government, saying she could not stomach the smears organised by Downing Street against colleagues. She said the "bullying behaviour is anathema to me", and even likened it to the methods of the Trotskyist Militant Tendency.

At a a separate meeting at Westminster, another former cabinet minister, Stephen Byers, last night claimed that Brown's leadership was being questioned "not by one faction or group, but from across the party. Those who claim otherwise are in denial about the scale and extent of the concerns that exist", he said. "We need a leader who regards Labour party members as assets to be valued. A leader who sees Labour MPs as colleagues, to be worked with, and not threats to be briefed against.

"We need someone who can voice the concerns of the British people and identify with their needs. We need a leader who can win for Labour at the next general election and not take us to a humiliating defeat. Gordon Brown is not that leader."

Frank Field, the former welfare minister, also cranked up his anti-Brown rhetoric, saying: "Even I didn't think a Brown administration would be as inept as this one. The Brownites are attempting to terrorise Labour MPs into inaction. If they succeed then we deserve our fate."