GORDON BROWN "TO GO" AFTER GLASOW

London/ Glasgow

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown will face calls to resign immediately after the by-election in Glasgow East on July 24th. Worried Labour MPs reading the tea leaves in the corridors of the House of Commons are fearing for their futures under the leadership of Brown and the Glasgow East contest is seen as a litmus test of Brown's leadership. If Labour loses the once safe seat, the calls for Brown to go will be deafening. The Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) are campaigning hard with their candidate John Mason. The SNP are the leaders in the Scottish Parliament.

Currently Labour has a majority in the seat of 13,000, held by David Marshall, who is resigning the once safe seat on health grounds. Last night the Scottish Labour party announced they have finally found a candidate for the seat in Margaret Curran who is currently a Member of the Scottish Parliament who will be ratified as candidate on Monday. She has stated that she will continue in her MSP role and do a job share if she wins the MP role but only take the MSP salary. All this has been a gift to labour rivals even the Scottish Conservatives, who fared badly under Tony Blair and New Labour . Scottish Conservatives leader Annabel Goldie said "Labour is rudderless at Westminster, leaderless at Holyrood and treating the people of Glasgow with contempt.
"Labour's selection process has been a sham with one candidate walking away, two others ignored, a fourth, Stephen Purcell, apparently turning it down.
"And now rumours that Margaret Curran has been press-ganged into standing as Labour's reluctant and accidental candidate. You couldn't make it up."

Everything is to play for given the angry mood of the electorate over the state of the economy. The economy is Brown's undoing. For almost 10 years he enjoyed a reputation as the UK's most successful chancellor whilst world growth rubbed off in the UK. Come the crunch time that every country is suffering and the supposed economic guru has no midas touch after all and his reputation of prudence has been shattered by constant dithering and reacting to headlines rather than making them for the right reasons.

There will be accusations that Brown is facing trial by media and yet the fact is that his cabinet of of government ministers resembles a Roman Senate with Brown as the remote dictatorial Ceasar and his colleagues publicly backing him but privately plotting his removal by any means necessary. Given that Glasgow East is an area of economic deprivation (political diplomacy for poverty stricken welfare ghetto where 50% of the working age population are out of work) it would have been a traditional Labour stronghold. However Labour is increasingly seen by traditional Labour voters of having abandoned them for the middle classes and big business.

Other candidates standing include Frances Curran, Scottish Socialist Party; Ian Robertson Lib Dems; Tricia McLeish Solidarity and Davena rankin, Conservatives.