Defiant Gordon Brown flies home to face down Labour backbenchers' 10p tax revolt

The Prime Minister's will make a defiant stand against what he regards as misrepresentation of the effects of the tax change.

And according to the Daily Telegraph Chancellor Alistair Darling is drawing up plans for a climb-down.

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Treasury secretary Angela Eagle also told BBC Radio 4's Any Questions that people should "watch this space" when she was asked if the Government was planning any measures to compensate for the tax changes.

Meanwhile Mr Brown has brushed aside questions about his leadership by insisting he was enjoying "the best job in the world" despite growing evidence that party MPs are intent on making his life a misery.

His friends said he was "seething" at the way a handful of MPs had undermined his trip to the U.S. by "misrepresenting" his policies.

But last night his authority was in fresh doubt after three more members of the Government publicly questioned his decision to abolish the 10p rate of tax.

The ministerial aides spoke out just 24 hours after Mr Brown was forced to interrupt a visit to the White House to plead personally with another aide not to quit.

And in a further blow, Ed Balls, a key ally, admitted the crisis buffeting the Government would "get tougher".

Battered by continuing Labour turmoil back home and a warning that he was leading Labour "over a cliff"', the Prime Minister took time out of his American tour to answer his critics.

He has been stung by anonymous claims that he is suffering from depression after weeks of bad headlines that have left his popularity ratings at catastrophically low levels.

Asked explicitly yesterday on GMTV if he was depressed, Mr Brown brushed aside the question and instead spoke emotionally about what motivates his premiership.

"I get up in the morning saying this is the best job in the world," he said.

"It's a great opportunity to serve. I want to do the best by the British people and I'm excited by the opportunities that our country has for the future."

On Thursday, Mr Brown suffered the embarrassment of having to persuade an obscure member of the Government not to resign in protest over the 10p tax.

Angela Smith, parliamentary aide to Treasury Chief Secretary Yvette Cooper, threatened to quit because she said the move was harming Labour voters.

In London, Mr Balls, the Schools Secretary, emerged in the role of Labour enforcer in an attempt to restore party discipline in Mr Brown's absence.

He dismissed party criticism of the Premier as "indulgent nonsense" and accused some of those who are criticising Mr Brown of settling scores.

In an interview with The Times, Mr Brown's long-standing righthand man said there would always be people who "have a gripe, a score to settle and disappointments from the past".

But with Labour facing a drubbing in the local and London elections on May 1, Mr Balls said in a separate interview with the magazine Tribune: "It has been a tough few weeks, there's no denying that.

"And with less than a fortnight until the local elections, it's going to get tougher."

Mr Brown has told friends MPs and the media have failed to understand the complexities of the tax changes he introduced last year.

He rejects claims from the respected Institute of Fiscal Studies that more than five million could be worse off, claiming it is impossible to know the precise figure