This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/uk_politics/7597464.stm
The article has changed 8 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Clarke issues fresh Brown warning | Clarke issues fresh Brown warning |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| Ex-home secretary Charles Clarke has said Gordon Brown has a matter of months to improve the standing of the Labour Party or quit as prime minister. | Ex-home secretary Charles Clarke has said Gordon Brown has a matter of months to improve the standing of the Labour Party or quit as prime minister. |
| Mr Clarke, a long-standing sceptic of Mr Brown as PM, told the BBC "many, many, many people" shared his concerns. | |
| He spoke as Mr Brown prepares to continue his autumn fightback with a speech to business leaders. | He spoke as Mr Brown prepares to continue his autumn fightback with a speech to business leaders. |
| Schools secretary and key Brown ally Ed Balls dismissed the attack as "Charles being Charles". | Schools secretary and key Brown ally Ed Balls dismissed the attack as "Charles being Charles". |
| Mr Clarke has a track record of criticising Mr Brown and was one of only a handful of Labour MPs not to publicly back his bid for the premiership last year. | Mr Clarke has a track record of criticising Mr Brown and was one of only a handful of Labour MPs not to publicly back his bid for the premiership last year. |
| At the time he was touted as a potential leader himself, but he ruled out a challenge to Mr Brown in an interview with BBC Radio 4's Today programme. | At the time he was touted as a potential leader himself, but he ruled out a challenge to Mr Brown in an interview with BBC Radio 4's Today programme. |
| 'Open discussion' | |
| Asked if he would be prepared to stand against the PM as a "stalking horse" - to flush out more heavyweight challengers - he said: "I wouldn't do that myself - and I wouldn't counsel anybody else to do it either. | |
| FROM THE TODAY PROGRAMME More from Today programme | |
| "The party's constitutional procedures in this kind of circumstance are very cumbersome, they would lead to bitter division and bitter problems, and I certainly don't think it's the kind of thing I would be ready to do and, as I say, I certainly wouldn't encourage anybody else to do it either. | "The party's constitutional procedures in this kind of circumstance are very cumbersome, they would lead to bitter division and bitter problems, and I certainly don't think it's the kind of thing I would be ready to do and, as I say, I certainly wouldn't encourage anybody else to do it either. |
| "I think it would be much better for the party and the country to come to a view about how the change should take place." | "I think it would be much better for the party and the country to come to a view about how the change should take place." |
| He said he decided to launch his latest attack on Mr Brown, in an article for the New Statesman, because he wanted the question of the PM's future "to be openly discussed - rather than discussed behind hands the whole time, in a way which isn't good for public politics at all in my view". | He said he decided to launch his latest attack on Mr Brown, in an article for the New Statesman, because he wanted the question of the PM's future "to be openly discussed - rather than discussed behind hands the whole time, in a way which isn't good for public politics at all in my view". |
| He said there were "two types of evidence" that Mr Brown was leading party badly at the moment. | |
| "The first is in the political evidence both in the actual election results, local election, parliamentary by-elections, opinion polls where we've been achieving where we've been recording lower scores than have been recorded in history. | |
| "And then economically there area lot of concerns, many as Gordon rightly says as a result of the international situation but also we haven't had a sureness of touch in the way that we've dealt with those economical issues over the last year." | |
| 'Question of months' | |
| He added that Mr Brown had to "establish his authority and set a very clear leadership direction" and he stressed that his concerns were shared by "many, many, many" people within the Labour Party. | |
| The government's performance must improve "significantly" or Mr Brown should "stand down as prime minister with honour and have a proper leadership election and address the proper issues," added the former home secretary. | |
| Asked how long he gave Mr Brown, Mr Clarke said: "I think it's a question of months really." | |
| His comments were dismissed by Ed Balls, who told GMTV: "It's not the first time Charles has made those kind of comments. I think it's Charles being Charles. | |
| "I don't think that's where the debate will be when we get to the next general election. | |
| "If you go back to 1986 when the economy was in difficulty, there were people saying the same things about Margaret Thatcher but she went on to win the next election. | |
| "What we've got to do is focus on the big issues and the real divides and the real divide is going to be between Labour and Conservative on the big issues facing the future of our country." | |
| 'Dad's Army' | |
| Former minister Nigel Griffiths also expressed his dismay at the intervention by Mr Clarke. | |
| He told Today: "It is not as if Charles has any alternative policies. | |
| "In 2007 he and (former Health Secretary) Alan Milburn set up a think tank called 2020 Vision. | |
| "It didn't think but it certainly tanked. It folded having produced not one alternative policy." | |
| He added: "Charles' problem is this is not the first time that he has gone for the old Dad's Army 'We are all doomed' without coming up with any real alternative. | |
| "He sort of lobs a grenade into the party and then backs away and he did have his chance ... in 2007 to come up with alternative policies, and he hasn't come up with them." |