Fishburn Hedges

07.01.2010

In a surprising move today, ex-Government Ministers Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt called for a secret ballot on Gordon Brown’s leadership.

The two backbenchers issued an open letter to Labour MPs directly after Prime Minister’s Questions, stating that “the Parliamentary Labour Party is deeply divided over the question of the leadership”.

The letter called on Labour members to support a secret ballot to resolve the leadership question once and for all. It follows rumours from yesterday that Cabinet Office Minister Tessa Jowell was on the verge of resigning in a bid to destabilise the Prime Minister.

Patricia Hewitt said the move wasn’t an attempted coup, merely an attempt to resolve the divisions within the party that were adversely affecting Labour’s ability to communicate its message to the electorate. The statement urged the party to present a united front ahead of the forthcoming General Election campaign.

While Hewitt and Hoon claim to have had messages of support from other Labour members (prominent backbenchers such as Charles Clarke, Barry Sheerman and Frank Field have all publicly issued their support), the Labour Party has dismissed the move as “unconstitutional”. Moreover, Hoon and Hewitt do not appear to have the required support from within the Parliamentary Labour Party. Indeed, Labour party rules make it almost impossible to oust a leader in this way.

So far, no existing Cabinet members have supported the move and Peter Mandelson has criticised it – an important point given his critical role over the last twelve months or so.  There have been no public comments as yet from the other senior influential Cabinet figures such as Harriet Harman, Jack Straw, Alistair Darling or Alan Johnson.

In the absence of a resignation threat from several figures like this, there is little chance of the Prime Minister resigning. It’s also worth noting that a Cabinet coup with a General Election only four months away is both unprecedented and unlikely.

Follow the ongoing debate within the Labour party and amongst its supporters here.