Times Online: Gordon Brown faces `quit now' calls as Labour MPs panic
Gordon Brown was facing public and private pressure to consider quitting for the sake of his party last night after the Crewe by-election "catastrophe" left ministers and Labour MPs convinced that they could not win with him at the helm. Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, was being earmarked by senior backbenchers as the figure to tell Mr Brown that they had lost confidence in him and that he should step aside unless there was a swift improvement in Labour's fortunes. Graham Stringer was the first Labour MP to call for Mr Brown to go, saying that the party needed a new leader to save it from "disaster" at the next election.
Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, was being earmarked by senior backbenchers as the figure to tell Mr Brown that they had lost confidence in him and that he should step aside unless there was a swift improvement in Labour's fortunes.
Graham Stringer was the first Labour MP to call for Mr Brown to go, saying that the party needed a new leader to save it from "disaster" at the next election.
One former Cabinet minister said there was a 20 to 30 per cent chance that Mr Brown would himself offer to step down if he believed that doing so would help his party.
Labour's finished for the foreseeable future. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
