British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is facing the political fight of his life as his Labour Party gathers for its annual conference this weekend with several lawmakers openly calling for a new leader.
Fifteen months after taking over from Tony Blair, Brown's popularity is in tatters with poll after poll showing Labour trailing the opposition Conservatives by some 20 points as the economy teeters on the brink of its first recession in 16 years.
Brown's allies say there is no question of the prime minister stepping down and he is the best person to guide the country through the global financial storm - the 57-year-old Scot was finance minister for a decade. "Our focus is upon helping the British people come through this turbulent economic time, and on our defining mission of building a fairer Britain," Brown wrote to party members on Friday. "I am confident we can come through this difficult time."
Not everyone agrees. An online poll on Thursday of 788 Labour Party members showed 54 percent want another leader. Panicked about losing their seats in the next national election, expected in 2010, some Labour lawmakers have called for a leadership race and in the last week, Brown has lost four junior members of his government who were trying to oust him. But so far no credible challengers have shown their hand and cabinet ministers have so far rallied behind the prime minister with varying degrees of support. Every minister's speech to the annual conference in Manchester, northern England, will be examined in forensic detail for any sign of disloyalty.
No immediate rebellion is expected, but Brown will have to show he can still electrify the party with his own conference speech on Tuesday if he is to have any hope of stopping the constant challenges to his authority. Brown will focus on the economic crisis. Inflation is more than double the central bank's target, unemployment is rising at its fastest rate in 16 years and house prices - an obsession of the British middle classes - are slumping.
The government was forced to nationalise Northern Rock bank earlier this year and had to broker a rescue takeover this week when the country's biggest mortgage lender, HBOS, looked as if it might become another credit crunch victim. "I'm not going to be diverted by a few people making complaints," Brown said in an interview with Sky News broadcast on Friday. "That's the stuff of politics. We get on with the business of government."
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