British prime minister Gordon Brown sought to stamp his authority on an increasingly fractious Labour Party today when he sacked another top member for saying he should face a leadership challenge.
It was the second dismissal for disloyalty in two days, as party dissidents piled more pressure on a premier struggling to stave off economic recession and lift his party's weak poll ratings.
Joan Ryan, a Labour legislator and vice chairwoman of the party, had said Mr Brown's future as leader was being discussed privately at all levels of the party and it was time for a leadership election.
Mr Brown swiftly sacked Ms Ryan from her party position and also fired her as his special representative to Cyprus.
Yesterday, Mr Brown sacked junior government member Siobhain McDonagh, who had also called for a fresh leadership contest.
She had said a "huge number" of Labour MPs wanted a leadership contest, an assertion strongly disputed by party leaders.
Mr Brown, who took over from Tony Blair last year without a contest and who does not have to hold a national election until May 2010, is trying to relaunch his premiership after months of speculation about his fate following a series of crushing local election defeats.
He trails the revitalised Conservatives and faces public disquiet over rising household bills, a housing market slump and a gloomy economic outlook.
Ms Ryan's call for a leadership challenge came a week before the party's annual conference, seen as a crucial event in Mr Brown's planned fightback after months of negative headlines.
"I want a leadership election, I want a choice of candidates, I want to have a debate," she told BBC radio. "We need to have this debate about the direction and leadership of our country out in the open now. It is happening at all levels of the party and it should be happening in a more open and honest way."
Mr Brown's opponents within Labour say their party has no chance of winning the election if he stays as leader. After 11 years in power, Labour lags the Conservatives in opinion polls by about 20 points.
The Conservatives' shadow welfare secretary Chris Grayling said Labour was in "a state of civil war" and called for an early election.
"We are watching the death throes of the Labour Party," said Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats.
A close Brown ally, Schools Secretary Ed Balls, played down talk of a leadership challenge and said Labour could still bounce back and win the next election.
"You never know what is going to happen in politics. He (Brown) might get run over by a bus. But I think there is very little chance of the Labour Party deciding it wants to change its leader," he told the
Daily Telegraph.