Vultures circle to ditch Brown as PM vows to fight on
A gang of desperate Labour MPs is plotting to topple Gordon Brown in a grass-roots revolution.
With Cabinet ministers unprepared to act, the threat to his leadership will come from the back benches.
One senior member with Blairite sympathies vowed last night: 'I am going to do all I can to undermine him. I want Gordon Brown out.'
Fears are mounting among the Labour rank and file that the party will be wiped out at the General Election if Mr Brown remains at the helm, following an expected drubbing in Thursday's local and European elections.
But in a pre-emptive strike against the plotters, and those demanding an immediate General Election, he made clear yesterday that he had no intention of quitting.
On another day of frenzied activity at Westminster:
* A national opinion poll put Labour in third place for the first time since 1987.
* Mr Brown promised a 'major and surgical' overhaul of the political system. A Constitutional Renewal Bill, including a new legally-binding code of conduct for MPs, will be brought before Parliament in the autumn. He also said police should investigate the worst cases of fraud.
* The LibDems demanded that Alistair Darling step down as Chancellor, accusing him of being 'caught with his fingers in the till'.
* David Cameron came under scrutiny for paying off a loan on his London home shortly after taking out a £350,000 taxpayer-funded mortgage on his constituency property.
* Veteran Labour MP Frank Cook was forced to apologise after an office mixup meant he tried to claim back £5 donated during a church service to commemorate the Battle of Britain.
The Labour plotters against Mr Brown are putting together a plan to force him out by destabilising him with a steady drip, drip of interventions. The first could come at a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party tonight.
Senior Cabinet figures who could have told the Prime Minister his time was up, such as Lord Mandelson and Jack Straw, have signalled that they are not prepared to move whatever the outcome of Thursday's elections.
The backbencher who spoke to the Mail, who is not regarded as a serial rebel, complained: 'There are no men in grey suits, just grey men in suits.'
The plotters believe that installing a new leader, with Health Secretary Alan Johnson emerging as the favoured choice, will not save Labour from defeat in a General Election but might limit the damage.
A national opinion poll yesterday put the Tories on 40 per cent, the Liberal Democrats on 25 and Labour on 22. In the European elections, Labour risks coming fourth behind UKIP.
But despite a certain ballot box bloodbath, Mr Brown was defiant.
Asked on BBC1's Andrew Marr Show whether he would stand aside if Cabinet members said it would help Labour's chances at a General Election, he replied: 'No, because I am dealing with the issues at hand. I am dealing with the economy every day.'
Instead, the Prime Minister is likely to relaunch his government with a reshuffle.
Communities Secretary Hazel Blears is facing demotion after dodging capital gains tax on the sale of her second home and Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has already indicated that she wants to step down from the Cabinet.
Chancellor Alistair Darling, under pressure over his expenses claims, could make way for Mr Brown's close ally Ed Balls, according to rumours in Westminster.
Turning up the heat on Mr Darling, LibDem Treasury spokesman Vince Cable yesterday launched an unusual personal attack to demand his scalp.
He said: 'Here is the company finance director caught with his fingers in the till. He must go, now.
'We need a Chancellor focusing on the national accounts rather than his own. There are some urgent economic questions to address.'
His party leader Nick Clegg added: 'It's simply impossible for him to continue in that role when such very major quessteppingtion-marks are being raised about his financial affairs.'
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it is time this arrogant, unelected twat was got rid of for the sake of the country and our democracy.
The Queen must dissolve parliament and call an election immediately, the leader is delusional
