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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Brown facing backbenchers' unrest | Brown facing backbenchers' unrest |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| Gordon Brown is considering how to deal with grumbles from his own backbenchers after Labour's disastrous showing in the local elections. | Gordon Brown is considering how to deal with grumbles from his own backbenchers after Labour's disastrous showing in the local elections. |
| Some MPs are demanding more details about the compromise over the abolition of the 10p tax rate amid media reports of a series of policy adjustments. | |
| Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party Tony Lloyd insisted there was no real threat to Mr Brown's position. | |
| On Sunday, the prime minister promised to listen to, and learn from, voters. | |
| Mr Brown's allies are continuing to dismiss talk of a leadership challenge. | |
| When we get through this, people will look back and say he [Gordon Brown] was the right man in the right place Ben Bradshaw, health minister | |
| Speaking on BBC Radio Four's Today programme on Monday Mr Lloyd said the prime minister's position was not in question. | |
| "There isn't, outside of those who have their own personal malice towards Gordon or indeed the odd ones with personality defects, a challenge against Gordon Brown. | |
| "What there is, is a demand of Gordon Brown to begin to do what he set out yesterday. To begin to do what Labour MPs have been saying to him, to make sure that the policies are consistent with Labour's overall position as a party of fairness and social justice," he said. | |
| Business secretary John Hutton has called on Labour backbenchers to support the prime minister and health minister Ben Bradshaw said despite current problems he remained the right person to lead the party into the next election. | |
| "When we get through this, people will look back and say he was the right man in the right place, and they'll have to make a choice between that and the alternative, which I don't think is a very attractive one," said Mr Bradshaw. | |
| Rubbish plans | |
| Mr Hutton said suggestions from some Labour backbenchers that Mr Brown had just six months to save his job were ludicrous. | |
| "I think all that talk about a leadership challenge is nonsense, a complete irrelevance," he said. | "I think all that talk about a leadership challenge is nonsense, a complete irrelevance," he said. |
| "We have made our choice about the right leader for our party and, I believe, for the country. We've got to get behind him and support him in the things that he is doing." | "We have made our choice about the right leader for our party and, I believe, for the country. We've got to get behind him and support him in the things that he is doing." |
| We're sinking fast, and no amount of hand-wringing and promises of 'listening and learning' from election night will change that. Jon Cruddas MP | |
| Some Labour MPs are calling for a shift in policy back to traditional Labour concerns like rail re-nationalisation, council-house building and taxing the rich. | |
| Gower MP Michael Caton said the party should "start talking about really tackling poverty, and that... is going to have to mean that the richest people in society contribute more". | |
| Former minister Peter Kilfoyle said the government needed to refocus its efforts on those people who had deserted the party because they felt the government had "left them out." | |
| Influential backbencher Jon Cruddas also warned: "Our people are abandoning us, we're sinking fast, and no amount of hand-wringing and promises of 'listening and learning' from election night will change that." | |
| He said it was not too late for the party to "choose change". | |
| Those who have criticised the prime minister are waiting to see how he makes good his promise to demonstrate a vision for the future of the country. | Those who have criticised the prime minister are waiting to see how he makes good his promise to demonstrate a vision for the future of the country. |
| There is speculation in the newspapers that the vision might include a raft of policy changes, including scrapping plans to charge households according to how much rubbish they throw out. | |
| On Sunday, Mr Brown said Labour "will recover" after its worst local election results in 40 years, and told the BBC he took the blame. | On Sunday, Mr Brown said Labour "will recover" after its worst local election results in 40 years, and told the BBC he took the blame. |
| "I feel responsible. There are no excuses on my part at all," he told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show. | "I feel responsible. There are no excuses on my part at all," he told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show. |
| Labour's poor local election results - in which their projected share of the national vote dropped to 24%, pushing them into third place behind the Lib Dems - were topped by Ken Livingstone's defeat by Conservative Boris Johnson in London's mayoral race. | Labour's poor local election results - in which their projected share of the national vote dropped to 24%, pushing them into third place behind the Lib Dems - were topped by Ken Livingstone's defeat by Conservative Boris Johnson in London's mayoral race. |
| In his first interview after the results were announced, Mr Brown said it had "not been the best weekend", adding that voters were worried about rising petrol and food prices and utility bills. | In his first interview after the results were announced, Mr Brown said it had "not been the best weekend", adding that voters were worried about rising petrol and food prices and utility bills. |