Brown ‘could only have months left’

May 24 2008 by William Green, The Journal

LABOUR was in turmoil last night as one North East MP claimed Gordon Brown could go within months.

Mr Brown vowed defiantly he would carry on after the stunning Tory by-election victory in Crewe and Nantwich, which saw a 17.6% swing to the Conservatives, and followed Labour’s local elections drubbing.

New MP Edward Timpson overturned a 7,000 Labour majority for a 7,860 majority of his own – leaving David Cameron to claim it was the “end of New Labour” and declare he would build his own “broad coalition” to win the next general election.

Another North MP warned that removing Mr Brown would be “suicidal”, as the Prime Minister yesterday made a show of carrying on as usual with a visit to a London hospital. He said voters had “sent a message” about concerns over rising fuel and food prices.

“The task that I have set for myself is that we take this economy through difficult times into a future where we have both fairness for all and prosperity for the British people,” he said. “That is the challenge I am going to meet for the British people.”

Last night, a senior Labour backbencher said Mr Brown “has got until late summer or late autumn” to improve and raised the prospect of South Shields MP David Miliband taking over. Another insider warned voters would punish “navel gazing”. “It is basically suicidal, if you get rid of Gordon Brown. It is madness,” he added.

North East Labour MPs also expressed anxiety after the swing to the Tories, which if repeated at a general election could see them dumped in the party’s traditional heartland.

They urged Mr Brown to axe a planned 2p fuel duty hike and support the housing market to show he is listening to voters’ concerns – although it is understood the Treasury is re-examining the tax issue. Dari Taylor, MP for Stockton South, said: “This is a statement that they are not going to vote Labour again if we don’t do a number of things.”

She said “confident” leadership was needed to deal with banks responsible for the credit crunch and ensure they provide enough mortgages, which have dried up, to help people on to the housing ladder. The 2p fuel tax increase should “most certainty” be scrapped, added the Labour MP. She admitted her seat was “precarious” but expressed hope the Government could prove it can deliver good policies by the next general election, expected in 2010.

The Labour MP added the Tynemouth seat was vulnerable to the Conservatives, who claim they could also take the new Sunderland Central seat and Berwick.

Labour’s Tyne Bridge MP David Clelland insisted there was time for a Labour recovery, while Sedgefield’s Phil Wilson said the Government had to work internationally to tackle rising prices.

Page 2: Cameron hints at scrapping Barnett