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Plot to topple Brown thickens

LONDON: The ‘plot’ to topple Prime Minister Gordon Brown to stave-off a threatened meltdown of the Labour Party ahead of the next general election has thickened amid reports that the plotters, said to be loyalists of the former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, have started to construct a shadow Cabinet as they prepare to bring him down.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who has emerged as the frontrunner in the leadership stakes, was on Wednesday reported to have invited Alan Milburn, an ally of Mr. Blair, to be his Chancellor if he replaced Mr. Brown.

The move was seen as a sign that plans to challenge Mr. Brown’s leadership at next month’s annual party conference were in a more advanced stage than was previously thought. Mr. Milburn, described as a “hate figure” for Mr. Brown’s supporters, was reported to be willing to serve in a “Miliband government.”

There was speculation that a number of other Blairites, including some Ministers in Mr. Brown’s Cabinet, had also agreed to back Mr. Miliband’s bid for power.

The Daily Telegraph, which broke the story of Miliband-Milburn ‘pact’, reported Labour sources as saying the move showed Mr. Miliband was serious about taking over the leadership. “David has done what he set out to do — to show very clearly that he is prepared to take on the leadership… He wanted to make it very clear that he is up for this,” said one source.

Mr. Miliband first showed his hand last week when he wrote an article in The Guardian, which was widely interpreted as a “job application.”

In that article, he analysed the crisis facing the government and set out his own vision for the party without even once expressing support for Mr. Brown.

Other senior Ministers, reportedly positioning themselves in the event of a leadership contest, are Justice Secretary Jack Straw and Labour Party deputy leader Harriet Harman.

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