Miliband is victim of Downing Street dirty tricks, claim his allies

They said suggestions that the Foreign Secretary had offered to make Blairite Alan Milburn Chancellor if he became Prime Minister are a 'fictional' smear.

And after claims that Gordon Brown may extend an olive branch to Labour's modernisers by inviting Mr Milburn back to the Cabinet, the former Health Secretary was said yesterday to have told friends he would be 'mad' to accept such an offer.

Former Health Secretary Alan Milburn has said he would be 'mad' to take a Cabinet post under Gordon Brown

Instead, he reportedly discussed taking on the Treasury in a post-Brown Cabinet with Mr Miliband, who has refused to rule out standing for the Labour leadership.

MPs sympathetic to Mr Miliband, who is on holiday in Menorca, believe Mr Brown's allies are behind the claims. Mr Milburn called them 'complete b*******'.

And a spokesman for the Foreign Secretary said there had been 'no such meetings, no discussions, nothing', adding: 'There are no plans for a future Cabinet and there is no leadership campaign.'

With speculation about plots against Mr Brown running at fever pitch, some MPs saw the suggestion that Mr Milburn may be asked to return to the Cabinet as a smear to undermine Mr Miliband's support.

Mr Milburn remains a hugely divisive figure among the Labour MPs, trade unions and party members who would determine the outcome of any leadership contest.

Popular swing; A recent poll showed Foreign Secretary David Miliband to be more popular than Gordon Brown

Former Treasury minister Geoffrey Robinson, a leading supporter of the Prime Minister, said the prospect of a return to the Cabinet by Mr Milburn could damage the Foreign Secretary.

He added: 'I'm not sure it'll do David Miliband much good.'

A report in today's Spectator magazine claims attempts to paint Mr Miliband as leader of a band of embittered Blairites are misleading.

It says Mr Brown's supporters have 'had success in spinning his antics as the work of the disenfranchised Blairites', while Mr Miliband is more to the Left of Mr Blair.

Labour's ex-welfare minister Frank Field  -  a critic of Mr Brown  -  yesterday dismissed suggestions that an election would have to be held soon after it changed its leader.

He said such an argument  -  advanced by allies of the Prime Minister to shore up his position  -  had no constitutional basis, adding: 'The only point of Labour changing its leader is to develop a programme.

'Any new leader would therefore be wise to say that he or she would not be going to the country, and not just because they would be slaughtered in the present circumstances. 

They should set the next general election for May 2010 to coincide with the local government vote.

The date would allow the Government time to set out a new direction.

A poll of polls for The Independent yesterday put Labour at its most unpopular since 1935, with the backing of just 27 per cent of voters, compared with 44 per cent for the Conservatives and 18 per cent for the Liberal Democrats.

Such a result at a general election would give the Tories a landslide with 391 seats, compared to 195 for Labour and 33 for the Lib Dems.

A poll of 5,000 voters for the Politicshome website last night suggested the public like Mr Miliband more than Mr Brown but are unsure about whether he would make a better Prime Minister.

Overall, 38 per cent said they found the Foreign Secretary more likeable-while Mr Brown only won only 19 per cent of the vote.

But Mr Miliband was only just ahead on who would be a better Prime Minister, leading Mr Brown by 27 per cent to 24 per cent. The remainder did not give a preference.

Mr Miliband's strongest support came from those aged 18 to 34, of whom 32 per cent backed him ahead of Mr Brown, who got 23 per cent.

Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague said yesterday the Tories would win the next election as voters had 'warmed very considerably' to David Cameron.

He told BBC Radio 2's Jeremy Vine show: 'I think he is ready to be prime minister. We don't claim to be there yet, we are not remotely complacent, but we are now the likely winners of the next election. We now have to make sure of it.'