Smith: Ministers focused on job

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She said she is focusing on making Britain's streets safer, not on recent in-fighting within the party.

She told GMTV: "What matters to me when I get up in the morning is thinking what am I going to do today to help the British people feel safer on the streets. And the Prime Minister and the Chancellor have been focusing quite rightly on the ways to help people going through a difficult economic time."

Asked if Gordon Brown should put himself to the test of a leadership vote, she said; "No."

An eve-of-conference poll put the party a massive 28 points behind the Tories. The Ipsos Mori survey putting the Tories on more than 50% for the first time since Margaret Thatcher's heyday came as another senior minister refused to condemn Labour rebels.

Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell - tipped by some as a successor to the Prime Minister - admitted he shared some of their concerns. Four Government figures have left or been sacked in less than a week after protesting at Mr Brown's performance.

Ipsos Mori put the Tories on 52% - up four points since a similar poll last month - among those certain to vote, with Labour unchanged on 24% and the Liberal Democrats down four to 12%. The 28-point Conservative lead and the party's share of voting intentions are the highest ever recorded by Ipsos Mori.

It is dire news for Mr Brown as Labour delegates prepare to gather in Manchester for their annual conference on Saturday.

On Wednesday, former minister George Howarth stepped up the attack on Mr Brown by insisting he was the least popular British prime minister since Neville Chamberlain made a doomed bid to appease Adolf Hitler. And Mr Purnell risked inflaming tensions further, in an interview with the New Statesman, by refusing to condemn those who voiced doubts about the Prime Minister.

"I think it would be ridiculous to pretend that you can't complain when you're worried," he said. "I mean, I'm worried that we're 20 points behind (in the polls). I'm not going to condemn people or question their motives. (But) I don't agree with what they did."