By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982
UPDATE: Labour's Chief Whip and close Brown aide Nick Brown has tonight told reporters that those behind the email include Stephen Byers, Alan Milburn, Graham Allen, Graham Stringer, Paul Farrelly.
For his own part, Farrelly has told journalists he has nothing to do with the letter and that he is "absolutely furious" at the Nick Brown's deliberate "smoking out" of backbench dissent.
Having called on members of the cabinet to challenge the PM last summer, Stringer's involvement is not out of the question, but he would also be an easy scapegoat.
UPDATE: It's not Cruddas:
A source close to Jon Cruddas has categorically told me that any suggestion that Mr Cruddas is or has been involved in the circulation of the letter calling on Gordon Brown to resign is "complete and utter rubbish". The source said Mr Cruddas has been "wholly focused" on campaigning and fighting the BNP in his Dagenham constituency, where he has been on the doorstep all day and for much of the last week.
Meanwhile, PoliticsHome has an excerpt of the letter, which reputedly says:
"We are writing now because we believe that in the current political circumstances you can best serve the interests of the Labour Party by stepping down as Prime Minister."
The snippet was obtained through the BBC's Nick Robinson.
Speculation is now spreading that Graham Allen, Labour MP for Nottingham North, may be involved in the letter's circulation.
--
With a letter reportedly doing the rounds of backbench Labour MPs, no one has yet been able to confirm who the leader of the rebels is.
Charles Clarke has a history of this sort of activity, but the Guardian reported that many Labour MPs are not signing the letter because it is being circulated by a renowned trouble-maker and championed by those that are "too left wing".
That leaves two viable liklihoods:
Frank Field and Jon Cruddas.
Qui bono?
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More like £200k+. Ms Cooper alone is on £141k, whereas Eddie is just bringing in pin-money on £95k...plus all the allowances that they need!!
Good, because thats exactley what the Tories want, keep Brown in to continue screwing it up. If you continue apologising for him then their is a chance. Vote Brown for leader.
Sort the economy, commit to electoral reform, and act speedily on the expenses debacle.
Sadly, I disagree. The goal for Labour supporters must be to ensure that there is at least one party which fights for equality and social justice - at the moment, there are none. A crushing electoral defeat for nuLab might just mean that under new leadership there was some slight prospect of having a Labour party in fact, not just in name.
I will not censor any article.
100,000 visitors await your article
Look where we are 12 yrs later. Economy in tatters and politics in disgrace. When will you socialists ever learn?
I suspect the next Labour P.M. is somebody we don't even know of yet. Somebody who won't be contaminated by the stink of Blair. That lets out most of the current shower. The next labour leader, I think should be Jon Cruddas because he would drag the party back to slightly left of centre. We don't need any more right wing ranters
It has to be someone not tainted by Phony Tony or bumbling Brown.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23703048-details/Another+blow+for+Brown+as+MPs+line+up+to+ditch+him/article.do
It seems Bumptious Barry Sheerman insists on having his two pennorth.....
This is so unedifying for the party - let's just get it over with. Either GB goes or we're out of power for a generation (again). AJ as PM could limit the tory majority to under 50 IMHO - this is what labour mps' minds should be concentrating on. The labour party is too important to be sacrificed on the altar of one politician's ego.
Seriously why didn't Brown have the sense to do what I suggested weeks ago and sack her immediately?. As it is, the grinning 4ft 10 of nothing has, literally, the last laugh.
She has always been an ultra-Blairite, and admaned pestential nuisance.
If he had sacked her and Smith (and McNulty) the Smith/Blears duo couldn't have acted in concert like they did, just a day before local elections.
I have sympathy for Blears in only one thing: that is, it was wrong brown singled her out when both hoon and purnell had done exactly what she did - avoid CGT. To their slight credit Hoon and Blears did pay back some of the money. Tightwad Purnell, I think is hanging on to every penny.
It's been a gloomy day - but Frank Field as a prospective leader?
The mind boggles -laugh? I thought I'd ****** myself!
Now as a person who has never ever voted for Labour, Charles Clarke is a man who appears to be in the possession of '2 certain spherical items', unlike the current leader of the government and Charles Clarke is someone who I would actually vote for.
Even Margaret Thatcher managed to have those two items, why is the current male prime minister so sadly lacking in them?
Certainly if it were a Tory government falling to pieces, the right wing blogs would be full of these types of stories, and you might notice that they're fairly successful.
If one of the "usual suspects" sticks their neck out it will be easier for GB to survive. If a member of the cabinet were to step forward and be absolutely scathing towards Brown there wouldn't be a leadership election there would be a general election and this whole sorry mess would come to an end.
This situation is a perfect example of what the public hate about our politics. The government is in disarray but the outcome is still up to party insiders and hangers on. We need a general election to return the power to the people and take it away from those who've been so thoroughly discredited.
No wonder the country is in such a mess with clearly incompetent management running it.
Who did your blog layout? Stevie Wonder?
In case you are a Hardwidger and eschew the MSM - It's all over the Telegraph, Times, Guardian, Independent, Sun, Daily Mail, Daily Express...
There still cheeky Kev though keeping the Brown end up in the Mirror though so all's not lost.
Meacher is more likely by far if this is from the left. Or perhaps Kilfoyle or BMA, who wanted a punt at Blair a couple of years back. However the new right are far more into this self-destructive bollocks than the rump of the left.
I watched some coverage of the Last Labour conference. It was a much more well produced affair than they're used to but the usual suspects started whining about control freakery, pimping their hairshirts on the fringe, or running off with their mouths in elevators. It's like they're scared of change and have a death cult problem.
I've lost the link to it but there was a good article on how Star Wars made it from concept to the screen. While George Lucas vision was a bit hazy he had good team leaders and staff who helped bring their skills and enthusiasm to the project to make it succeed way, way better than was originally conceived. Labour need to learn this.
Alex, what a slur! As if Cruddas would be getting his hands dirty in this! No doubt people are circulating it, but Cruddas, as if! Try McDonell or the MP for Neath!
In any case, a petition is a waste of time - the backbenchers would look far more credible walking down Downing St and telling Brown to go to his face.