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No Cabinet backers for Clarke's dramatic 'PM must go' challenge
Last updated at 09:13am on 05.09.08
Ministers put on a show of support for Gordon Brown yesterday after Charles Clarke's dramatic call for change at the top appeared to fall on deaf ears.
They dismissed his latest intervention as the lone mutterings of a known maverick and urged him to 'shut up'.
The former Home Secretary's warning that Labour faces 'utter destruction' and Mr Brown could have to 'stand down with honour' did seem to strike a nerve at Westminster.
Lone mutterings: Charles Clarke's call for a change at the top has had ministers rallying to support Gordon Brown and dismissing Clarke as a 'maverick'
But by last night there were no MPs willing to take up his call for a public debate about the Labour leadership.
Mr Brown himself shrugged off the controversy by telling the CBI in Scotland he was 'cautiously optimistic' about Britain's economic prospects.
His prediction of just a short-lived downturn was designed to dispel the damage done by Alistair Darling's gloomy warnings last weekend.
But Mr Brown's speech led to Tory claims that he is at odds with his Chancellor and is glossing over the extent of the difficulties facing the economy.
Shadow Chancellor George Osborne said: 'Gordon Brown says he is cautiously optimistic, while Alistair Darling says the UK's economic problems will be more profound and longer lasting than people expected.
'We have a Labour government descending into civil war and a Chancellor and a Prime Minister who publicly disagree on the severity of the problems we face.'
In an article for the New Statesman magazine, Mr Clarke wrote that there was a 'deep and widely shared concern' within the party that the Government was currently heading for disaster.
He reinforced the message in interviews yesterday when he said the Premier would have to improve or 'stand down as Prime Minister with honour and have a proper leadership election'.
He praised Mr Brown as a ' brilliant Chancellor' but said he had not established his political authority. It was 'entirely possible' for him to 'turn it around' but if he failed to do this - and then did not resign - the Cabinet would have to decide on a course of action against him.
He said the 'fatalism' of Labour MPs who were resigned to defeat was 'very damaging indeed'.
Asked what should happen if Mr Brown failed to provide clarity and then failed to resign, Mr Clarke said: 'In the event that didn't happen, then I think it would be down principally to the Cabinet to decide how to proceed and what to do and to do that in an expeditious way.'
But he conceded there was no mood in the Cabinet at the moment to do this.
'Many in the Cabinet share the view we are in great difficulty and are doubtful about our capacity of how to get out of it.
'There isn't a view ... that they should go and speak to Gordon in the way I have been describing.'
He ruled himself out as a ' stalking horse' against Mr Brown and he would not advise anyone else to do that because party rules regarding it were 'very cumbersome-and would lead to 'bitter division'.
Labour MPs have been agonising for months about the state of the polls, which show Mr Brown is widely unpopular and the party is 20 points behind the Tories.
They fear an autumn of damaging speculation when the Commons returns in October. Labour also faces a difficult by-election in Glenrothes, the Scottish seat next door to Mr Brown's constituency.
Reader views (8)
Robert, not only are workers now expected to "work till they drop" while others who can by-hook-or-crook get into the U.K. under its "walk-in immigration policy" get supplied with all life's needs, but the gap is widening sharply between those in the private sector and those in the public (civil-servant) sector. MPs have the ultra-deluxe gold-plated pension scheme, but everyone else in the public sector does very well with their pension schemes -- very well indeed compared to those in the private sector who only get back interest on what they are able to invest. Brown raided the private sector pension plans in 1997, taking away the tax break on pension plan dividends, and as a result, £100 billion less is in private pension plans than would have been the case without Brown's tax grab.
Brown is a socialist through and through, grabbing money from all and sundry to redistribute it. The very opposite of Thatcher, who believed in free enterprise, while still leaving room for helping those in true need. Brown is pulling the U.K. straight into the ground. The removal of this man from the top post would give a huge emotional uplift to the people of the U.K. It can't come soon enough. His lieutenants, who bravely and stupidly deny that there exists any problem, are going to pay a massive penalty when the public are able to get their hands on them. Charles Clarke can see it; the other Labourites remain in denial.
- Phil Jones, London UK
Brown and his cabinet are now radiating the body language of intellectual spastics in every respect. They seem incapable of getting anything to work. It would be a start if they were to look at the exploitation of our coal supplies of which we have 200 years supply below ground, the rationing of fue-oil, and the imposition of price controls on energy and essential foodstuffs etc., etc.,. Furthermore, how on earth can Blunkett suggest workers continue in post until they drop and pay for their own care when they do, whilst all the world has an invitation to enter Britain and exploit our generosity for as long as they wish..
- Robert El-Cid,, Hull, East Yorks.,
Odd because most of the electorate want him gone but then you can't expect Nu Liebour to be representative of public opinion.
- Steve, london
Okay, okay . . . The official New Labour "corporate theme tune" MUST be changed immediately to the O'Jays - 1972 release - "Back Stabbers"!
Not only is it "wholly appropriate" but it is an extremely catchy tune too!
Perhaps it can also be played daily in Parliament to both welcome and remind tourists of what's really happening in Britain?
- Fraser, Telford Park
I think it's a bit late to think of honour - but I love the bit about Gordon GOING! [and please can he NOT get an honorary knighthood?]
- Marianne, SW France
Clark is right, and a giant ball is already rolling towards the PM. Just wait till the party conference, followed by that by-election result in Scotland.
- William Grierson, Kimpton, UK
At last a Labour politician speaks wisely. This was a measured criticism which the leaders should read and digest. Mr Clarke has gone up in my estimation. If he had spoken earlier he would have been ridiculed. His timing is just about right.
- John, arezzo, italy
So what Charles Clarke is really confirming is that New Labour were ONLY ever a party of "spin", "half truths" and "smoke-screens"" and that since Crash Gordon took over the reigns and moved away from Tony Blair's favoured modus operandi, the result is that New Labour appear to be imploding!
Presumably this just goes to show that "honesty" and "integrity" get you nowhere in modern Britain!
Of course, a contributory factor to New Labour's downfall is their distinct "lack of strength in depth".
- Fraser, Telford Park
