BRITAIN:LABOUR MINISTERS rallied behind prime minister Gordon Brown yesterday in face of a backbench call that they organise a leadership challenge following Labour's heavier than expected defeat in the Crewe and Nantwich byelection.
A jubilant David Cameron hailed "the end of New Labour" and promised to build "a coalition for change" after his candidate secured the Conservative Party's first byelection gain from Labour in 30 years with a swing of 17.6 per cent. Election analysts said the collapse of Labour's 7,078 majority, combined with this month's local and London elections and double-digit leads for the Tories in the national opinion polls, confirmed Mr Cameron in serious contention for the keys to 10 Downing Street.
Mr Brown shrugged off predictable questions about his ability to lead Labour into a general election, expressing confidence that the public expected him to address their problems and steer the country through difficult economic times.
In determined "business as usual" mode Mr Brown undertook a hospital visit and met the Dalai Lama before heading to Scotland for the Whitsun bank holiday weekend. The prime minister's aides are hoping that next week's parliamentary recess will allow backbench panic to subside after the Conservative capture of a Crewe seat numbering 165th on the Tory target list.
However, Downing Street will be braced for a searching inquest in tomorrow's newspapers following Labour MP Graham Stringer's call on senior members of the cabinet to signal their willingness to stand against Mr Brown and force a change of leadership.
Fellow MP Alan Simpson suggested Mr Brown had "until the end of the year" to win back public confidence or else Labour faced "the end of the pier".
The dilemma for worried ministers is the prospect of a Labour bloodletting and the absence of any polling evidence that the party would fare better under an alternative leader.
Against that, sources close to former prime minister Tony Blair yesterday argued that - following Mr Brown's postponement of the planned autumn election - "he has suffered an autumn, winter and spring of discontent, and now faces more of the same right into the summer".
Soon after MPs return to Westminster, the week after next, Mr Brown faces a rebellion and possible blow to his authority over plans to extend the period for holding terror suspects without charge from 28 to 42 days. Later next month he will come under media examination on the anniversary of his election as leader.
Conservative Edward Timpson led a field of 10 at Crewe and Nantwich, winning 49.49 per cent of the vote to Tamsin Dunwoody's 30.55 per cent and 14.55 per cent for Lib Dem Elizabeth Shenton.