BRITAIN:THE BELEAGUERED British prime minister Gordon Brown has said he feels "chastened" after presiding over Labour's worst local election results for 40 years.
But as victorious mayor Boris Johnson finessed his programme for the new "mini-Conservative government" in London yesterday, Mr Brown said he had never considered standing down and insisted he is the man to lead Labour to victory at the next general election.
In his heavily trailed "fightback" interview on the BBC, however, Mr Brown offered nothing new to fearful Labour MPs pressing for a change of both style and substance from 10 Downing Street if they are to keep their seats and halt the forward advance of David Cameron's Conservatives.
Mr Cameron celebrated alongside Mr Johnson following Friday night's midnight declaration of Boris's famous victory over two-term mayor Ken Livingstone.
Victory in the capital was the icing on the cake for Mr Cameron after a local election spectacular in which the Tories led Labour by 20 points across England and Wales, winning a 44 per cent share of the vote, to make the Conservative leader now a serious challenger for Number 10.
After the elimination of the other eight mayoral candidates and the allocation of their second-preference votes, Mr Johnson beat Mr Livingstone by a majority of 140,762.
The electronic count recorded the first and second preferences cast simultaneously and the breakdown of the individual transfers from the eliminated candidates is not yet available.
The far-right British National Party passed the necessary 5 per cent threshold to gain a seat in the new London Assembly, although it was reported yesterday that the other parties have agreed to shun the successful Richard Barnbrook.
Mr Johnson formally assumed his new office yesterday although he was at City Hall on Saturday to sign on and tell an audience, including metropolitan police commissioner Ian Blair, of his anti-crime priorities. In vintage 'Boris' fashion, the new mayor warned that he would not tolerate dissent within his new administration from allies of Mr Livingstone, saying: "If there are any dogs in the manger, I will have those dogs humanely euthanised."
In less humorous vein, Mr Johnson had earlier advised the demoralised Labour Party that its best chance now would be to "quietly remove Gordon Brown and install [David] Miliband". Mr Miliband yesterday led the cast of loyal ministers professing confidence in Mr Brown's leadership.
Interviewed on BBC Radio 4's The World this Weekend, Mr Miliband said he had not entered last year's leadership race for the simple reason that Mr Brown was, and remained, "the right man for the job".
However, Labour MP Ronnie Campbell told the same programme: "I didn't always agree with Tony Blair and his policies, but I was always confident with Tony. With Gordon, I'm not so sure." Speaking from Labour's previously secure heartland in England's northeast, Mr Campbell confirmed his earlier advice that "if Gordon Brown can't handle it, he should get out and get somebody in who can".
Mr Brown told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show that he absolutely could take the pressure, saying "I don't think I look that tired", and repeated the familiar line: "You're tested in leadership by how you deal with adversity."
Mr Brown spoke against the threat of a fresh Labour rebellion over the controversial scrapping of the 10p tax rate. Rebel leader Frank Field MP said he and a number of MPs were again ready to block the budget unless Mr Brown made "crystal clear" how those adversely affected were to be compensated.
Mr Brown also faces a fresh electoral threat in the Crewe and Nantwich by-election later this month, caused by the death of veteran MP Gwyneth Dunwoody.
Labour will hope to have boosted its chances of holding the seat with the weekend selection of Ms Dunwoody's daughter, Tamsin Dunwoody, to defend her seat.
However, that campaign is also likely to be played out against the rising threat of a Commons defeat for Mr Brown over the proposed extension of the time limit for holding terror suspects without charge from 28 to 42 days.