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Senior Labour officials voice support for Brown

26/07/2008

Senior Labour party officials and a former home secretary have expressed support for the prime minister after yesterday's shock by-election defeat.

Labour yesterday lost the third-safest seat in the country in Scotland's Glasgow East constituency to the Scottish National Party, raising further questions over whether a change at the head of government was needed.

Cabinet office minister Mr Miliband told BBC's Newsnight he had heard no reports of cabinet members rebelling against Mr Brown, adding that the former chancellor was the best person to lead the country in times of economic difficulty.

He said: "People realise there is a big collective responsibility here. The collective responsibility is not to turn inwards but to turn outwards and understand the concerns of the country.

"'Who do you want to take Britain through a downturn?', this is the question people have to ask.

"The most successful chancellor since the second world war by most accounts, that's one of the reasons why I think Gordon's the right man for the job."

Former home secretary David Blunkett told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that changing the leader would not affect food and fuel prices as they were driven by international factors.

Conservative leader David Cameron yesterday called on the prime minister to call a general election in the wake of Labour's loss.

Speaking at the Labour's National Policy Forum at Warwick University, the prime minister said he would continue working through these "difficult times" and asked the public to have faith in him and his policies.