BRITISH PRIME Minister Gordon Brown was still battling for survival last night after bolstering his position with a forced cabinet reshuffle which failed to silence backbench demands for a Labour leadership contest.
Mr Brown ended the toughest 24 hours of his political life with an implicit acknowledgement of the continuing threat to his position, telling his party: “I will not waver. I will not walk away. I will get on with the job.”
That vow came as Labour suffered dreadful results in the English county council elections, with the prospect of worse to come with a potential fourth place behind the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and the UK Independence Party when the results of the European elections are declared tomorrow.
Those results will concentrate the minds of anxious MPs returning to Westminster on Monday to hear Mr Brown address the parliamentary Labour Party, amid an ongoing “e-mail plot” to find 70 or more backbenchers willing to write to the prime minister asking him to step down.
Those convinced that Mr Brown is taking the party to a general election defeat now also have the weekend to reflect on a reshuffle in which chancellor Alistair Darling successfully resisted attempts to move him from the treasury, and which sees Lord Peter Mandelson elevated, in effect, to the role of deputy prime minister.
The new Lord Alan Sugar will join a new “super ministry” for business, innovation and skills over which Lord Mandelson will preside with the title first secretary of state – a title previously used by deputy prime ministers John Prescott and Michael Heseltine, and implying seniority over all other secretaries of state.
That was one of the big structural changes in a cabinet reshuffle which left more than half its members in position, after Mr Brown moved decisively overnight to avert the potentially perilous situation created by the shock resignation of work and pensions secretary James Purnell.
Critical to Mr Brown’s success yesterday was the agreement of potential successor Alan Johnson to serve as home secretary.
Mr Brown was also boosted when foreign secretary David Miliband disagreed with Mr Purnell and declared his belief that Mr Brown remained the best man to lead Labour into the general election.
While winning at least temporary respite, however, Mr Brown bore the wounds of a string of resignations from the first and second ranks of his government, with John Hutton and Geoff Hoon following Mr Purnell, Jacqui Smith and Hazel Blears out of the cabinet – though not in rebellion against the prime minister.
Mr Hutton quit his defence post to spend more time with his family, while Mr Hoon – like Mr Darling, embroiled in the MPs’ expenses scandal – agreed to be Mr Brown’s European policy adviser, it is assumed with an eye on his prospects of becoming the UK’s European commissioner.
As the shape of what Lord Mandelson described as a “new government” emerged, there were continuing setbacks for Mr Brown.
Having declared her support for Mr Brown on Thursday, presumably in anticipation of a promotion that did not come, Europe minister Caroline Flint announced her resignation. She accused Mr Brown of operating a “two-tier government” and of using women ministers as “female window dressing”.
That was hotly denied by Labour’s deputy leader Harriet Harman, who may yet be troubled by the elevation of Lord Mandelson. Mr Brown also faced the prospect of an unwanted summer byelection, meanwhile, when the Labour MP Ian Gibson resigned his Commons seat “with immediate effect”. Mr Gibson confirmed he felt “shattered” by the decision of the party’s so-called “star chamber” to prevent him standing for re-election at the general election after inquiring into his expenses.
There is no evidence of wrong-doing on the part of Mr Gibson, who said he felt he had been targeted for “special” treatment.
Labour is also facing a second unhappy byelection prospect in Glasgow following the resignation of Commons speaker Michael Martin later this month.