LONDON, June 6 (AFP) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was heading to D-Day commemorations today hoping that a hasty Cabinet reshuffle would prove enough in the battle to salvage his premiership.
A defiant Brown vowed to tough it out after Cabinet members quit in bitter circumstances and his governing Labour Party suffered an electoral bloodbath.
“I will not waver, I will not walk away... I will get on with the job,” Brown said after announcing a swift but limited reshuffle in a bid to shore up his position.
However, Britain's newspapers said his leadership was fatally crippled and called for a general election to restore some authority to government.
And Labour rebels were reportedly considering their next move, with predicted dire European Parliament election results likely to reignite backbench unrest when they are announced Sunday.
The shake-up, originally expected Monday, was brought forward ahead of today’s trip to France after four Cabinet ministers quit in quick succession -- taking the total number of ministerial resignations in the past few days to 10.
Brown will be hoping his hasty reshuffle will prevent his overseas trip from echoing that of another British prime minister stuck out in France, vowing to fight on while unable to tackle party rebellion back home.
In November 1990, prime minister Margaret Thatcher was holed up at a European summit in Paris as her authority ebbed away back in London. Two days later, she gave up the battle.
James Purnell jumped first, sacrificing his position as work and pensions secretary, saying that under Brown, Labour had no chance of winning the next general election, due by June 2010 at the latest.
And in a dramatic “stiletto in the back” moment, Europe minister Caroline Flint stormed out saying the premier had “strained every sinew” of her loyalty, running a “two-tier” government with women used as “female window dressing”.Defence secretary John Hutton, transport secretary Geoff Hoon and Welsh secretary Paul Murphy also stepped down Friday, but without knifing Brown.
Lord Peter Mandelson was instrumental in stopping further ministers from following Purnell, with some persuasive late-night telephone calls.
He was rewarded with the title of first secretary of state -- de facto deputy prime minister -- but denied he was now the “kingmaker” in the British government.
He insisted that getting rid of Brown would have spelled doom for the Labour Party and an inevitable swift general election.
“Another leader couldn't simply mean another coronation; you would have to have a leadership contest,” he told The Times newspaper.
“A picture would be presented to the country that is entirely self-indulgent. A general election shortly afterwards would be unavoidable too.”Mandelson said the mood inside Brown's Downing Street office had been calm.
“No phones have been thrown,” he said.
Labour plotters were reportedly biding their time ahead of the European Parliament election results.
If they mirror the outcome of the English local elections, also held Thursday, Labour will be trounced by the Conservatives -- and could even finish in fourth place if fringe eurosceptic parties do well.
Labour suffers “wipeout” at local polls
LONDON, June 5 (Reuters) - Labour saw its popular support evaporate on Friday after it lost control of all the English county councils it was defending following heavy defeats in local elections across the country.
In Staffordshire, under Labour control since 1981, councillor Derek Davis said his party had suffered a “complete wipe-out” after losing 28 seats as the Conservatives romped home.
“I've been a member of the Labour party since 1963 and I've never known it as bad as this,” said Davis. “This is the lowest ebb I have ever known,” he told BBC television.
Labour also lost Derbyshire, Lancashire and Nottinghamshire, thereby losing control of its last four county councils in England.
The Liberal Democrats lost control of Somerset to the Conservatives for the first time since 1989.
“Today's results are remarkable,” said Tory leader David Cameron. “The Conservative Party have won all over the country -- from Lancashire to Devon and Somerset to Derbyshire. We have won councils that we haven't held for three decades.”
The BBC calculated that Labour's projected share of the national vote had slumped to 23 percent, behind the Conservatives on 38 percent and the Liberal Democrats on 28 percent.
If early results were repeated at a general election, the Conservatives would form the next government with a 28-seat majority, Sky News said.
Scorned “Blair babes” turn against Britain's Brown
By Kate Kelland
LONDON, (Reuters) They were dubbed the “Blair Babes” -- the 101 Labour women lawmakers elected when Tony Blair came to power in Britain in 1997 -- who would transform gender imbalances in the British parliament.
But with three female ministers quitting Prime Minister Gordon Brown's already limping government as he faces an expected drubbing in local and European elections on Thursday, women at the top of British politics are now being accused of staging the “revenge of the sisterhood”.
 |
| A file picture taken on April 22, 2008 in London shows former Britain's Housing Minister Caroline Flint leaving 10 Downing Street after attending the weekly Cabinet meeting. AFP |
It is an accusation they firmly reject: Jacqui Smith, Britain's first female interior minister, insisted “there is no conspiracy here” as she confirmed her intention to quit.
But political commentators struggled to see this week's resignations of Smith, communities minister Hazel Blears, children's minister Beverly Hughes, along with a decision by former health secretary Patricia Hewitt to step down at the next election, as anything else.
On Friday, Britain's Europe Minister Caroline Flint quit adding to the crisis.
The right-leaning Daily Mail tabloid ran banner headlines warning that a new sinister team of WAGs -- a term devised for wives and girlfriends of super-rich soccer stars -- had emerged from the corridors of parliament's Palace of Westminster.
The “Women Against Gordon” had been gathering, it said, for all-female political dinners and hatching “plots” to turn against Brown if he failed to promote more women.
In the Times, political commentator Anne Thompson, warned “Hell hath no fury like the women scorned”. She said senior Labour women who “have felt briefed against and bullied for two years” were fighting back.
Women working in British politics say it is still very much a male dominated environment, but are not keen to talk on the record about whether Brown allowed a macho culture to flourish.
Thompson said women “bore the brunt of Brown's wrath” over an expenses scandal which has engulfed British politics, with Blears and Smith scolded while male colleagues like finance minister Alistair Darling got the prime minister's support.
Many observers pointed to Caroline Flint -- minister for Europe and another of the original “Blair babes” -- as the next high-profile woman likely to abandon Brown's sinking ship, although close colleagues said she had no such plans.
“She is not going to resign. Today, she is focused on getting out, encouraging people to vote,” her spokeswoman said.
“MACHO CULTURE”
Katherine Rake, Director of the Fawcett Society gender equality campaign group, said an “incredibly macho” culture was a worrying feature of British politics.
She noted that Brown had already halved the number of women in his cabinet from the days of his predecessor Tony Blair, when as many as 8 of around 26 posts were taken by women.
“There was already a step back when he appointed his first cabinet -- he went from 8 to five,” she told Reuters. “Then there were four, and now there are only two left.” Women's Minister Harriet Harman and Treasury Minister Yvette Cooper are the only remaining high-profile women in the top echelons of government.
Brown is expected to reshuffle his cabinet in the wake of an expected drubbing in local and European elections on Thursday, and Rake said it was vital to see more women in the top team.
“There are plenty of qualified women amongst the ranks of
Labour members of parliament,” she said. “Whether they want to work at the top of government is another matter. At the moment I don't know whether it's an attractive place for anyone to work.”
Full list after reshuffle - The new cabinet
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced changes to his ministerial team on Friday. Following is the full UK government list after Brown's reshuffle: Cabinet:
Prime Minister Gordon Brown
Chancellor (finance minister) Alistair Darling
First Secretary of State Peter Mandelson
and Business Secretary
Leader of the Harriet Harman
House of Commons
Foreign Secretary David Miliband
Home Secretary (interior minister) Alan Johnson
Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth
Health Secretary Andy Burnham
Justice Secretary Jack Straw
Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis
Work and Pensions Secretary .Yvette Cooper
Children, Schools and Families Secretary Ed Balls
Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Ben Bradshaw
Communities & Local Government Secretary John Denham
Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband
Environment, Food & Rural Affairs Secretary Hilary Benn
International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander
Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward
Scotland Secretary Jim Murphy
Wales Secretary. Peter Hain
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liam Byrne
Leader of the House of Lords Janet Royall
Cabinet Office Minister Tessa Jowell
|
E-mail