Britain's Brown facing growing revolt (AFP)
by Robin Millard 10 minutes ago
LONDON, (AFP) - The calls for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to face a leadership contest grew Sunday as former ministers attacked his performance and more party members backed a showdown.
The mutiny against Brown gathered pace less than 48 hours after a member of his government for the first time broke ranks and called for a challenge to his stewardship of the ruling Labour Party.
Those who have spoken out so far are hoping their numbers will snowball before the party's annual conference kicks off on Saturday. All eyes are on whether a big-name Cabinet figure will join their bandwagon.
Anyone wishing to challenge for the leadership has to gain the support of 20 percent of Labour lawmakers -- currently 71 -- and seek nomination before the party conference, giving rebels a tight timeframe for maximising the pressure on Brown.
Fiona Mactaggart joined the former ministers openly calling for a change of leadership, telling BBC television: "I think we should give a chance to someone else to take over, I really do.
"The problem that I see is a lack of clarity about our ambitions for Britain."
And other disgruntled Labour backbenchers weighed in, with the sniping set to continue throughout Sunday, when several important political interview shows air.
Barry Gardiner, Brown's special envoy on forestry, said the public had stopped listening to Brown.
"He is not a popular prime minister, but he would continue to have my support if he showed sound judgment, international leadership and political vision," he wrote in The Sunday Times newspaper.
"Instead, we have vacillation, loss of international credibility and timorous political manoeuvres that the public cannot understand."
Labour have slumped in the polls in the 15 months since Brown was elected unopposed to succeed Tony Blair and many MPs in seats which could fall to the opposition are worried about their prospects, with a general election due within 20 months.
Graham Stringer, writing in The Mail on Sunday newspaper, said "enough is enough."
"The reality is that the majority of Labour MPs are in agreement that Gordon Brown should be challenged. It is only a matter of when," he wrote.
"What is the point of being loyal to a leader if the country and the party lose out as a result?
"More and more party members are coming to the conclusion that a leadership contest is essential if we are to have any hope of avoiding a catastrophe at the next general election."
Speculation about a challenge to Brown's leadership has simmered through the parliamentary summer break, focused on Foreign Secretary David Miliband, and is expected to come back to the boil in time for the party conference.
The Mail on Sunday telephoned Cabinet ministers, with 14 out of 22 agreeing that Brown was fit to lead Labour into the next general election. The others -- including Miliband -- did not respond.
Backbencher George Howarth said a leadership battle would show whether Brown could regain public trust.
"Sadly, every test of public opinion shows that people seem to have decided Gordon is not the person they want to lead the country," he wrote in the News of the World newspaper.
"If Gordon were to win that contest, he would emerge stronger. Either way, it would give the government a fresh start."
Left-wing Labour MP John McDonnell described the latest moves as faction-fighting between supporters of Brown and Blair that could destroy the government.
"Most Labour Party members are looking on aghast as the Blairites and Brownites fight an irrelevant turf war," he said.
"It's like watching the crew having a punch-up on the deck of the Titanic."
Fed up of leadership challenge talk, Conservative prime minister John Major opened himself up to a contest in 1995. He won comfortably, but the damage lasted.
The Sunday Times and The Sunday Telegraph newspapers echoed Major's "put up or shut up" line, saying Britain needed firm leadership during the economic downturn and a contest could draw a line under Brown's premiership so far.
