Justice Secretary Jack Straw has become the latest senior minister to express his support for Gordon Brown.

The PM's future is the subject of renewed speculation following Labour's defeat in the Glasgow East Shock defeat for Brown's Labour in Scotland ...
Opposition ousts Brown's Labour Party from London ... by-election.

Mr Straw has been touted as a possible challenger to Mr Brown, but he has let it be known he wants Labour to close ranks behind the prime minister.

Cabinet Office Minister Ed Miliband said Mr Brown was the right leader during the current economic downturn.

However, GMB union leader Paul Kenny said Labour backbenchers should "get on with it" if they wanted Mr Brown out.

'Right man'

Several MPs are reported to have urged Mr Straw to lead a challenge to Mr Brown's leadership in the autumn unless the party's fortunes improve.

But Mr Miliband dismissed reports that colleagues wanted Mr Brown to stand aside.

He told BBC's Newsnight: "I do not recognise those comments from the Cabinet colleagues I talk to.

"People realise there is a big collective responsibility here: the collective responsibility is not to turn inwards but to turn outwards and understand the concerns of the country."

He urged Labour MPs to keep faith with the prime minister.

He said: "'Who do you want to take Britain through a downturn?', this is the question people have to ask.

"The most successful chancellor since the Second World War by most accounts, that's one of the reasons why I think Gordon's the right man for the job."

Mr Kenny said: "Most of the speculation and tittle-tattle has been about when he's going to go, who's going to do him in, what's the next big landmark event that will force him to resign.

"The MPs have got to have the courage of their convictions if they've got them, and my advice to them is 'get on with it'."

Unhappy reading

Labour backbencher Ian Gibson, said morale in the party was "gloomy".

"It's not much fun being in supermarkets being shouted at by people," he said. "That is very new after 10 or 11 years."

BBC News political correspondent David Thompson said Saturday morning's papers would not make happy reading for Mr Brown.

They feature a series of reports that behind the scenes a raft of MPs and even some ministers think their leader should stand aside for the good of the party.

Labour is holding its National Policy Forum at Warwick University, where ministers, unions and activists will thrash out a blueprint for the next election manifesto.

The SNP won Glasgow East - previously considered one of Labour's safest seats - by 365 votes, achieving a 22.54% swing.

Parliamentary Labour Party chairman Tony Lloyd said replacing Mr Brown was not the answer.

But Graham Stringer, MP for Manchester Blackley, urged Cabinet ministers to hold a debate on the party's leadership.

Conservative leader David Cameron has demanded that the prime minister call a general election after he returns from his summer holiday.

(BBC)

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