Brown may be forced out before next election, says Labour peer

THE Cabinet may force out Gordon Brown ahead of the next election, a Labour peer claimed today, as the sleaze row engulfing the party refused to die down.

Lord Desai attacked the Prime Minister, saying the "smeargate" scandal, in which Mr Brown's aide Damian McBride sent an email proposing the use of lurid and unfounded stories against senior Tories, severely damaged him.

Writing in the Evening Standard, the peer said: "Gordon Brown's moral mask has been ripped off.

"His reputation for sound economics was destroyed even before the recession; McBride has destroyed his claim to sound politics."

If Labour suffers big losses, the party would have little time to choose a new leader through the usual procedures. Lord Desai even said the Liberal Democrats could overtake Labour, as Treasury spokesman, Vince Cable, "looked good" during the economic crisis.

"This may be the last Budget of this Government if Labour soldiers on with Brown; if they change horses they may live to fight another day," he said.

The Children's Secretary Ed Balls and Labour's general secretary Ray Collins had to deny allegations over the weekend as the "smeargate" furore continued.

Mr Balls was accused of holding weekly Downing Street meetings to advance his ambitions, while Mr Collins was faced with a report suggesting that he helped set up the Red Rag gossip website.

Difficulties for Labour also grew when the candidate selection for Erith and Thamesmead was called off after a ballot box was tampered with, amid suggestions that Georgia Gould, 22, daughter of polling guru Lord Gould, was being parachuted into the seat.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in