Gordon Brown is the second most unpopular prime minister in modern British history, an opinion poll showed today, but unseating him would do little to help his Labour party's fortunes.
In a week when Foreign Secretary David Miliband wrote an article calling for change in the party, a move interpreted in the media as laying the ground for a leadership challenge, the poll was further crushing news for Brown.
The prime minister, who succeeded Tony Blair without an election in June last year, can now count on just 15 per cent support, according to the YouGovpoll, the lowest rating ever for a leader aside from John Major in 1995.
A weakening economy, with house prices falling and credit conditions tight, has compounded Mr Brown's misfortunes.
"I think the dice have been rolled," John Curtice, a professor of government at Strathclyde University and a noted commentator on British politics, said.
"It's pretty clear that an important game is going to get played out in September. There might be some sort of attempt to get him to go, but whether it will be successful remains to be seen. It's game on, put it like that."
Britain's parliament is now in recess for the summer, meaning some of the momentum calling for Mr Brown to go is likely to die down for the coming weeks. Mr Miliband, the architect of the latest ructions, has gone on holiday to Spain.
But if the chatter of discontent continues into late September, when Labour holds its party conference, Mr Brown's leadership credentials could again be under the spotlight.