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Brown 'not fit to lead'
08/04/2007 17:09 - (SA)
London - Finance minister Gordon Brown,
overwhelming favourite to succeed Tony Blair as prime minister,
suffered a blow on Sunday when an opinion poll showed more than
half of Britons thought he was unfit to lead the country.
In another setback for Brown, a newspaper said there was
growing pressure for another member of the cabinet to challenge
the Chancellor of the Exchequer for the leadership of the ruling
Labour Party when Blair steps down.
Blair is widely expected to quit in June or July after a
decade in office. With no serious challenger yet emerging, Brown
has been seen as a virtually automatic choice to succeed Blair
as party leader and prime minister.
But some Labour politicians doubt Brown's leadership
credentials and opinion polls show he would fare badly against
David Cameron, leader of the main opposition Conservatives.
The Sunday Times said only 27% of 2 218 people
questioned in a YouGov poll thought Brown was fit to be prime
minister after a row last week over his handling of pensions.
Fifty-seven percent thought him unfit.
The poll showed Britons were losing faith in Brown's
stewardship of the economy - his strong point until now.
Forty-one percent thought Brown was doing a good job as
finance minister, down from 51% in March.
Since then, Brown has delivered a budget that cut income tax
but clawed back revenues elsewhere.
Accused
Critics accuse Brown of contributing to pension fund
shortfalls by removing tax breaks for funds in 1997, a charge
Brown and Blair deny. But opponents have seized on newly
released documents showing Brown ignored a warning on the risks.
The poll showed the Conservatives stretching their lead to
eight percentage points, up from six a month ago.
The next national election is not likely until 2009 but
Labour is expected to do badly in local council elections in
May.
The Sunday Telegraph said Home Secretary (interior minister)
John Reid was pressing Environment Secretary David Miliband to
challenge for the leadership to stop Brown taking over.
If Miliband refused, Reid himself was prepared to challenge
Brown, it said.
Miliband has repeatedly said he has no plans to challenge
for the leadership, while Reid has not ruled out standing.
In further bad news for the government, The Observer
newspaper said a poll it commissioned had delivered a "damning
verdict" on Blair's decade in office.
The poll of more than 2 000 Britons showed people believed
the country was a more dangerous, less happy and less pleasant
place to live than it was before Blair came to power.
Fifty-eight percent judged Iraq to be Blair's biggest
failure while almost half thought him "out of touch,
untrustworthy and overly concerned with spin", the poll said.
- Reuters
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