Gordon Brown under seige

The election results are not even through yet, and Brown already has a crisis.

A third Cabinet Minister has resigned this week, and told Brown he should resign as PM. His letter says:

“We both love the Labour Party. I have worked for it for 20 years and you for far longer.

‘‘We know we owe it everything and it owes us nothing. I owe it to our party to say what I believe no matter how hard that may be. I now believe your continued leadership makes a Conservative victory more not less likely.

‘‘That would be disastrous for our country. This moment calls for stronger regulation, an active state, better public services, an open democracy. It calls for a Government that measures itself by how it treats the poorest in society. Those are our values, not David Cameron’s.

‘‘We therefore owe it to our country to give it a real choice. We need to show that we are prepared to fight to be a credible Government and have the courage to offer an alternative future.

‘‘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.

Brown is gone – either this year, or at next year’s elections. What I am interested in is who will be the next Leader of the Labour Party?

And I wonder how happy Tony Blair is today?