British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has managed to ward off the challenge to his leadership with most of the Labour members extending their support to the beleaguered premier.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has managed to ward off the challenge to his leadership with most of the Labour members extending their support to the beleaguered premier.
The Labour Party finished dismal third in voting for representatives to the European Parliament - its worst electoral drubbing in a century - showing the damage done by a scandal over lawmakers' expenses.
Contrary to expectations that Brown would face a hostile Labour parliamentary party last evening, majority of the members extended their support to the leader as he promised to make amends by consulting MPs and others.
"I'm not making a plea for unity, I am making an argument for unity," Brown reportedly told the party yesterday.
He said he had "strengths and weaknesses" and that there were "some things I do well and some things not so well".
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Former Home secretary David Blunkett told the meeting that Labour rebels who were clamouring for a change of leadership should "put up or shut up".
Labour MP Barry Sheerman, who had previously called for a debate on the leadership, said he had expressed his own reservations about Brown, but had been won over by his pledge to consult more and be more transparent.
"If the prime minister sticks to what he says, those of us who have been his critics will stand down for the time being," Sheerman said.
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