Gordon Brown refuses to walk away Waooo

LONDON: A defiant Gordon BrownGordon Brown vowed to tough it out on Friday as Britain’s prime minister after three more members of his cabinet quit and his governing Labour party faced the prospect of an election meltdown.

‘I will not waver, I will not walk away... I will get on with the job,’ Mr Brown told a press conference after announcing a cabinet reshuffle designed to stem the haemorrhaging of authority.

‘Service to the country is more important than service to self or even to party,’ he added.

The reshuffle, initially not expected until next week, had to be brought forward after three cabinet ministers quit within 24 hours — taking the total number of ministerial resignations in the past week to nine.

James PurnellJames Purnell delivered a withering call for Mr Brown to stand down as he resigned as work and pensions secretary. The resignations of Defence Secretary John HuttonJohn Hutton and Transport Secretary Geoff HoonGeoff Hoon soon followed.

‘I now believe that your continued leadership makes a Conservative victory more, not less, likely. That would be disastrous for our country,’ Mr Purnell wrote in his resignation letter on Thursday night.

‘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.’

News that Europe Minister Caroline FlintCaroline Flint was also quitting her non-cabinet position broke as Mr Brown was speaking. Asked on the matter, he said she was to be replaced by the former Labour party leader Neil Kinnock’s wife Glenys.

In his press conference, the British premier vowed ‘to finish the task’ handed to him when he succeeded Tony BlairTony Blair as prime minister two years ago and said his government had a ‘record we are proud of’.

He acknowledged the damage caused by a recent scandal over lawmakers’ expenses and admitted his party was in line for a ‘painful defeat’ after local and European parliamentary elections held on Thursday.

‘An economic crisis and now a parliamentary crisis is a test of everyone’s resilience, mine, the government’s and the country’s.’ Although EU election results are not due until Sunday, Labour suffered a string of reverses in the council elections.

With four of 34 councils declared, the ruling party had lost 25 seats, compared to the main opposition Conservatives who had gained 29. Labour was down 12 per cent to its lowest ever result in local elections and the Conservatives up three per cent on last local elections since 2005, BBC reported.

The party now also faces a further possible nightmare at the ballot box after Ian Gibson, a backbench lawmaker who was caught up in the expenses scandal, said he would stand down in a move that will trigger a by-election.

Bookmakers Paddy PowerPaddy Power are now paying out on bets that Mr Brown will leave his job before the end of August.

There was glimmer of light for him on Friday as Alan JohnsonAlan Johnson, seen by many commentators as his most likely replacement, took over as home secretary and insisted he was not seeking to be premier.

‘I’m supporting Gordon Brown, I’m backing Gordon Brown, I have no ambition to be the leader,’ the outgoing health secretary told Sky News television.

Mr Hutton insisted he was leaving for family reasons and stressed he was ‘not deserting’ Mr Brown, whom he said he supported. Bob Ainsworth, currently armed forces minister, was named as his replacement.

The cabinet reshuffle also saw heavyweights like finance minister Alistair DarlingAlistair Darling, Foreign Secretary David MilibandDavid Miliband and Business Secretary Peter MandelsonPeter Mandelson keep their jobs, amid reports he had wanted to move them but did not want to risk an angry fallout