[BRIEF NOTE] Is Britain's Labour nightmare over?

[rfmcdonald]

That would be the logical consequence of this, another article in the palace coup within Britain's Labour Party that @DougSaunders has been Twittering about for the past bit.

Geoff Hoon, the former defence secretary, and Patricia Hewitt, the former health secretary, sent a letter to fellow Labour MPs asking for support for the measure.

Immediately there were fears among Mr Brown’s supporters that Cabinet heavyweights could be secretly backing the plan.

Mr Hoon, who the Daily Telegraph named this morning as a likely plotter against Mr Brown, is a very close friend of Alistair Darling, the Chancellor. Mr Darling has been at odds with Mr Brown in recent days over issues like how to pay down the deficit.

Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, has also reportedly been unhappy with some aspects of the Prime Minister’s recent performance.

It is the gravest threat to Mr Brown’s leadership since James Purnell walked out of the Cabinet in June. Mr Brown was able to hang on to power after other Blairite ministers backed the Prime Minister.

In the latter the pair wrote: “As we move towards a General Election it remains the case that the Parliamentary Labour Party is deeply divided over the question of the leadership. Many colleagues have expressed their frustration at the way in which this question is affecting our political performance. We have therefore come to the conclusion that the only way to resolve this issue would be to allow every member to express their view in a secret ballot.

“This could be done quickly and with minimum disruption to the work of MPs and the Government. Whatever the outcome the whole of the party could then go forward, knowing that this matter had been sorted out once and for all.”

They urged supporters of Mr Brown to back the plan so that the question is resolved.

They added: “This is a clear opportunity to finally lay this matter to rest. The continued speculation and uncertainty is allowing our opponents to portray us as dispirited and disunited. It is damaging our ability to set out our strong case to the electorate. It is giving our political opponents an easy target.

I've three questions to ask my readers, especially but not only the Britons.

1. Could this actually work?

2. Isn't this how the same sort of way that Thatcher lost power?

3. Is anyone looking forward to a Conservative government under David Cameron? I regularly read the Spectator, but I suspect it's not representative.