Brown leadership speculation 'nonsense'

Two leading government ministers sprang to the defence of embattled Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Sunday, eager to quash speculation about a leadership challenge as his poll ratings tumble.

Just one year after taking over from Tony Blair, Brown has been beset by a barrage of problems - voters are punishing him over the flagging economy, soaring fuel and food prices and a botched tax reform.

With media speculation rife about Brown's future on the eve of parliament returning on Monday from its latest break, Justice Secretary Jack Straw sought to calm nerves and quell mutineers.

"Speculation about the leadership, frankly, is nonsense. He is the best leader that we could possibly have and he will see us through these difficulties," the veteran minister told BBC TV.

Business Secretary John Hutton made equally loyal noises, telling Sky News: "Gordon is the right leader for our party and for our government."

"I think unity is essential for progress in politics, so we should get behind the leader that we ourselves have chosen", he added.

Brown, who last month lost a safe parliamentary seat and received an ignominious drubbing in local elections, does not have to call a national election until 2010 when he hopes the economy will have had time to recover.

The latest opinion poll showed his support at rock bottom - a YouGov poll in Friday's Daily Telegraph newspaper put Labour on 23 points against the main opposition Conservatives on 47.

The Telegraph said this was the lowest level of support for the Labour Party since World War Two when Britain had a coalition government led by Winston Churchill.

The poll said three quarters of people were now dissatisfied with the government, in power since Blair's landslide victory over the Conservatives in 1997.

As finance minister for a decade under Blair, Brown was hailed for steering Britain's economic boom - but his hard-won reputation for economic competence is now under fire.

The economy grew at its slowest pace in three years in the first quarter of 2008 and inflation is forecast to rise near to 4 percent, limiting the central bank's scope for interest rate cuts.

The gloomy poll soundings prompted Anthony King, professor of government at the University of Essex, to conclude: "This is no ordinary case of mid-term blues. Governing parties that trail 24 points behind almost never hold on to power."