Challenge away , see if I care

Labour to rule on leadership bid
Gordon Brown
Seventy Labour MPs would need to back a challenger to Gordon Brown

Labour Party chiefs are expected to try to block attempts to force Gordon Brown to face a leadership contest.

The party's National Executive Committee is tipped to reject requests for leadership nomination forms from MPs unhappy with the PM's performance.

Mr Brown is coming under increasing pressure from within his own party to face a leadership contest.

The latest MP to speak out - an unnamed government minister - has said he may resign his post over the issue. 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7617984.stm

See what I do for you !!!!

Brown unveils £910m fuel measures

Gordon Brown announces energy-saving measures

Gordon Brown has agreed a £910m package of measures with the big energy companies aimed at helping people with soaring gas and electricity bills.

It includes half price insulation for all households and a freeze on this year's bills for the poorest families.

Pensioners and unemployed people with young children will get an extra £16.50 a week if there is a severe winter.

But the measures were attacked as "ridiculous" by the unions, who want a windfall tax on the energy giants.

The package includes:

• Free cavity wall and loft insulation for pensioners and poor households
• 50% off cost of insulation for all households
• Freeze on this year's bills for half a million poor consumers
• Partial reversal of cut to warm front programme giving free central heating to poorest pensioners
• Cold weather payments to go up from £8.50 a week to £25 a week for pensioners, disabled people and unemployed families with children under five - if temperatures drop below zero for seven consecutive days

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7609036.stm

Me cave in ? NEVER !!

Brown 'backs more Holyrood power'

Read Brian Taylor's blog

The Scottish National Party has claimed that Gordon Brown is "caving in to pressure" to concede more powers to the Scottish Parliament.

It follows the prime minister's speech at the CBI dinner in Glasgow in which he indicated that he favoured enhanced financial powers for Holyrood.

Mr Brown said the Union was key to the economy but indicated the prospect of greater financial accountability.

Mr Brown's aides denied this was a concession to Nationalist pressure.

Speaking to the dinner on Thursday night, Mr Brown said there was a risk of waking up and finding the benefits of the Union had been thrown away.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7599295.stm

Improve or quit, Clarke tells Brown , What does he know ? Idiot !!!

Improve or quit, Clarke tells Brown

Gordon Brown's leadership was called into further question when former Home Secretary Charles Clarke warned he had just months to prove himself or he would have to "stand down with honour".

Mr Clarke had already re-ignited the prospects of a leadership challenge when he warned the Labour Party would not allow the Premier to lead them to "utter destruction" at the next election.

In an article for the New Statesman magazine, Mr Clarke said there was a "deep and widely shared concern" within the party that the Government was currently heading for disaster.

But in an interview with the BBC, the former Cabinet minister warned the Premier he would have to improve or "stand down as Prime Minister with honour and have a proper leadership election".

Mr Brown had been a "brilliant Chancellor" but had not established his political authority.

It was "entirely possible" for him to "turn it around" but if he failed to do this and then did not then resign the Cabinet would have to decide on a course of action. But he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that at present there was no "clarity" about how to address the "deep concerns" within the party.

He said: "What I believe is there are two essential possibilities, both of which are perfectly honourable. The first is for the performance of the Government to improve significantly ... or the second is for Gordon Brown to stand down as Prime Minister with honour and have a proper leadership election to address the proper issues. Both of those are perfectly reputable courses of action."

Asked how long Mr Brown had left, he said: "I think it is a question of months really. It is a question of seeing how it works forward and whether he can deal with the situation.

http://www.midsussextimes.co.uk/latest-national-news/Improve-or-quit-Clarke-tells.4457815.jp

Fall out with my Darling ? NEVER !!!

Number 10 denies chancellor rift

The chancellor' s comments have been described as 'extraordinary'

Downing Street has denied reports of a rift with the chancellor following his grim warnings over the economy.

Number 10 said it was working closely with Mr Darling on ways to alleviate the impact of the economic downturn.

Mr Darling told a newspaper at the weekend that Britain was facing its worst economic crisis for 60 years.

Meanwhile, Conservative leader David Cameron has warned large-scale attempts to refloat the mortgage market could be "quite dangerous".

The Bank of England figures show the number of new mortgages approved for home buyers fell in July to just 33,000, a 71% drop since last year.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7591346.stm

Leaked letter ? , find out who leaked it !!!

Leaked letter predicts crime rise

Home Office minister says letter is statement of the "blindingly obvious"

Crime levels are set to rise because of the economic downturn, according to a leaked Home Office letter.

The draft letter to Downing Street said rising property crime and violent crime, and increased hostility to migrants, were likely.

It also forecast more smuggling of fuel, alcohol and tobacco.

Home Office minister Tony McNulty said the letter was a "statement of the blindingly obvious", as it was clear crime may go up in the slowdown.

The letter was draft advice which had not been cleared by home secretary Jacqui Smith and had not been sent to Number 10, the Home Office said.

Migrant workers

The letter based its suggestions about property crime, such as burglary, and violent crime on the experience of the recession in the early 1990s.

It said if the economic slowdown was on a similar scale over the next couple of years, property crime would be likely to rise by 7% in 2008 and a further 2% in 2009.

FROM THE TODAY PROGRAMME More from Today programme

The letter added that a downturn would affect the need for migrant workers, particularly in jobs such as construction where they make up a large proportion of the workforce.

"Increased public hostility to migrants" was predicted to result from heightened competition for employment.

The leaked letter stated: "There is a risk of a downturn increasing the appeal of far-right extremism and racism, which presents a threat as there is evidence that grievances based on experiencing racism are one of the factors that can lead to people becoming terrorists."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7591072.stm

Can Brown turn it round? Of course I can !!!

By Brian Wheeler
Politics reporter, BBC News

"The public do seem to have switched off. Not necessarily from the government as a whole but they don't seem to be engaging with Gordon."

Mr Brown has promised help for families hit by rising prices

He may not be one of nature's Brownites - in fact he recently added his voice to calls for the prime minister to quit - but former spin doctor Lance Price has a knack of putting into words what Downing Street must be fearing the most at the moment.

Mr Brown is getting ready to stake his political future on a package of economic measures aimed at helping families through the credit crunch.

All manner of goodies have been hinted at - from a stamp duty holiday to one-off windfall payments to help with winter fuel bills.

The idea is to show voters Labour is "on its side" - that it is looking out for "ordinary people" - and hopefully provide some relief from some of its worst poll ratings in history.

Mr Brown's future as prime minister may rest on the reaction it gets.

But the fear for the government is that the public will fail to give Mr Brown any credit for his largesse - or simply shrugs its shoulders and change the channel.

"Even when he does something that should be ostensibly popular, no one is listening," says the former Downing Street man.

"That is a very dangerous position for the government to be in."

'Dreadful area'

Some Conservatives see parallels between Mr Brown's problems and their own party's predicament in the mid-1990s.

"They're entering that dreadful kind of area where almost everything they say and do is automatically rejected," shadow local government secretary Eric Pickles told The Financial Times.

"I am not saying they're entirely there but they are beginning to sink without a sign of the bottom."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_7570000/newsid_7573000/7573011.stm

Meet the stars always a good ploy

Brown meets triple gold hero Hoy

Mr Brown congratulated fellow Scot and triple gold medallist Chris Hoy

Gordon Brown has met triple gold medallist Chris Hoy at a reception in China hosted by their old university.

Both the PM and Hoy, Scotland's most successful Olympian, were students at Edinburgh, which put on a reception at the British Embassy in Beijing.

They had tea with Principal Professor Sir Timothy O'Shea and ambassador William Ehrman.

Sir Timothy said Hoy, who graduated in Applied Sport Science in 1999, was a "great ambassador for the university".

Mr Brown, who went to Edinburgh University when he was just 16, graduated with a first class honours MA aged 19 and became rector of the university in 1972.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_7570000/newsid_7577300/7577328.stm

Darling I Love You !!!!!!!

Darling: Brown can win election

Alistair Darling is standing in for Gordon Brown while he is on holiday

Alistair Darling says he is optimistic Gordon Brown can overcome his current political difficulties to "turn things round" and win the next election.

The chancellor said Labour needed to set out a clear vision and "recapture that conviction and zeal" it once had.

Mr Darling, who is deputising for the PM while he is on holiday, said: "I think we can get through this."

He refused to be drawn on reports the government is considering temporarily scrapping stamp duty.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7542393.stm

Vacuum ??? Where???

Ex-ministers' challenge to Brown

Speculation about Gordon Brown's future has increased recently

A group of ex-Labour ministers are to set out their own policy agenda to fill what they see as a "vacuum" at the heart of government.

The unnamed former ministers told the BBC their list of four or five initiatives would distinguish Labour from David Cameron's Conservatives.

The move, expected within weeks, will increase the pressure on Gordon Brown.

Three cabinet ministers have attempted to damp down speculation about his leadership by rallying to his defence.

The BBC's Iain Watson reports that one of the group of former ministers stated: "Gordon Brown's back is against the wall."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7539858.stm