MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

The noose tightens: another ministerial shove for PM Brown to step down

Purnell: Stand aside to give our Party a fighting chance of winning

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been put under further pressure to step down as Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell dramatically announced he was quitting the Cabinet as polls closed in crunch elections.

In a resignation letter released to several newspapers, Mr Purnell called on Mr Brown to step aside for the good of the Labour Party, saying that his continued leadership makes a Conservative victory more, not less, likely.

The senior Blairite's departure follows the loss of four ministers from Mr Brown's Cabinet in the past three days, amid reports of backbenchers collecting signatures demanding his removal.

Mr Purnell's letter read: “I owe it to our party to say what I believe, no matter how hard that will be. I now believe that your continued leadership makes a Conservative victory more, not less, likely. That would be disastrous for our country... I am therefore calling on you to stand aside to give our Party a fighting chance of winning. As such I am resigning from Government.”

Mr Purnell's intervention is the first direct challenge from a senior Labour figure to Mr Brown's leadership and makes his position much more precarious.

The next few days will determine Mr Brown's future, as it becomes clear whether other ministers and MPs are willing to follow Mr Purnell over the parapet or whether the Prime Minister can reassert his authority with a deft reshuffle.

Downing Street said in a statement that Mr Brown was “disappointed” by Mr Purnell's resignation but added that he will continue to give his undivided attention to addressing the challenges facing Britain.

Meanwhile, a senior Labour backbencher has called for the party's MPs to be given a secret ballot on whether Mr Brown should stay as leader. The normally loyal MP for Huddersfield, Barry Sheerman, who chairs the Commons Schools Committee, told the BBC: “I think he would be asked to step aside if people were allowed a free vote.”

But a Blairite minister who had been tipped to quit Government in protest at Mr Brown's leadership said she was backing the Prime Minister. Europe minister Caroline Flint said: “I have spent my entire ministerial career for six years now serving Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, and I am very proud to be in a Labour Government and very proud to be part of Gordon Brown's Government.”

Conservative leader David Cameron said that James Purnell's departure shows that the Government is “falling apart in front of our eyes”.