Embattled PM urged to change course

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Jon Cruddas said the Crewe by-election defeat and disastrous local election results proved the party was "tone deaf" to voters' concerns.

"To heal the fractures we have to change," he told the Independent on Sunday. "Until and unless we really work through what is going on here we are going to have a big collision with the electorate at the next election."

Mr Cruddas, who came third in Labour's deputy leadership election, was among a number of senior figures who told Mr Brown he had to change.

Labour peer Lord Desai urged Mr Brown to issue a "put up or shut up" ultimatum to his critics, but predicted no-one would launch a challenge.

"Either we require a changed, improved Gordon Brown to lead us, and we still hope for that, or somebody has to say, 'Please for the sake of the party that you love, move over', but I don't think it's going to happen," he told the BBC.

"He should say to the party: 'Put up or shut up. I am your leader, if anybody wants to challenge me, here I am, try it.' Nobody's going to do it and that will establish his authority."

Millionaire Labour donor Lord Paul, who helped bankroll Mr Brown's leadership campaign, said the Prime Minister needed to be "much tougher".

"I think he's too gentle. Gordon has to exert his authority further. He must change some of the people (in the Cabinet)," he told the Sunday Telegraph. He said Mr Brown could reverse Labour's downturn but it would "take time".

Frank Field, the former minister who led the 10p tax revolt, called for Blairite "heavy hitters" to be restored to the "nondescript" Cabinet. He said Charles Clarke, Alan Milburn and Stephen Byers - all critics of Mr Brown - and David Blunkett should be appointed as Justice, Home, Foreign and Business Secretaries.