Brown's Labour Party suffers crushing defeat at council elections; PM's office at stake

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has accepted responsibility for his party's defeat

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Local election results showed Conservative Party secured 44 percent of all votes cast, while the Labour trailed the Liberal Democrat on 25 percent with a miserable 24 percent.

Brown has accepted the blame for the crushing defeat of his party but said he was still confident of winning the next general election.

"I feel responsible. There are no excuses on my part at all," Brown said, adding that his government had made mistakes, including the abolition of a 10 percent tax band, which hit low earners and is seen as a key factor in the election losses. The prime minister admitted that he had also spent too much time worrying about the detail of his job and failed to connect with the people.

However, Brown said that there were no talks of leadership challenge in his party and "it is time to get on with the job."

"I'm resolute and determined and I've got conviction and ideas and I'm not going to be put off by a few days' headlines from the job that I'm determined to do for this country," he said.

However, Brown admitted that he has not been successful enough in identifying with the ordinary voters as his predecessor Tony Blair had been.

"I'm not the same as Tony Blair, I'm a more private person as you rightly say, but I also recognize in this job people have got to know who you are, it's an open book, where do you come from, what do you believe in, what are you about-" he said in a BBC interview.

"I come from a pretty ordinary background. The real me is someone who understands at root all the challenges that ordinary families face," Brown said, adding that he would get out of the Westminster bubble "far more often" and tour the country to connect with voters and listen to their concerns.

"Perhaps I have spent too much time . . . looking at the detail to solving people's problems," he said. "But to solve people's problems you have got to understand their problems."

Brown said the nation was going through difficult times economically as a result of the global credit crisis but was confident that it would soon tide over.

"It is undoubtedly the case, going round the country, that there is a sense of hurt and a sense of feeling, 'What is happening to my daily budget, what is happening to the bill at the supermarket and what is happening to the cost of living-'" Brown said. "We have got to show, as we have done in the past, that we can come through these difficult economic times, make sure people feel safer in their jobs and their mortgages and make sure that people know that this economic plan we have for the future is taking us out of the downturn and preparing for the upturn."

"I believe that over the last 10 years, I have shown I can take people through difficult circumstances. We are in difficult economic circumstances. I think people accept that we're going through some of the most challenging times we've seen in many years. Leadership is tested not by what happens in the best of times but what happens when things are difficult," he said.

However, not many share Brown's optimism.

Ronnie Campbell, Labour MP for Blyth Valley, said he was not confident in Brown. "I did say if Gordon Brown can't handle it, he should get out and get somebody in who can handle it. He has to decide that," Campbell said, adding, "I didn't always agree with Tony Blair and his policies, but I was always confident with Tony."

While shadow business secretary Alan Duncan said Brown was a "spent force," Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said the Labour was "in turmoil," drawing comparison with the drubbing Conservative Prime Minister John Major suffered in 1995, two years before his party's landslide General Election defeat.

"This is a big moment for the Conservative Party. This is a big step forward - but I don't want anyone to think that we would deserve to win an election on the back of a failing government," said Conservative Party leader David Cameron.

According to Cameron, the victory spelled "not just a vote against Gordon Brown and his government," but "a vote of positive confidence in the Conservative party."

"I want us to really prove to people that we can make the changes that they want to see, in terms of schools and hospitals and crime and the other issues that really matter to all of us. That's what I'm going to devote myself and my party to over the next few months," he declared.

Even some left-wing Labour MPs are calling for a leadership change in the party.

While McDonnell, the chairman of the left-wing Campaign Group, reportedly told close allies he will not be launching a leadership challenge but will head the campaign at Westminster and around the unions for a change in policy, another left-wing Labour MP, Ian Gibson, said Brown had six months before Labour's annual conference to demonstrate that he can turn around the party's fortunes before the next election.

But there are some who are backing Brown and urging the public to give him some more time to perform.

"People are harsh with Gordon, particularly because they say this is the job he wanted for such a long time and should have been prepared for. When you look at his performance in opposition and in government over 20 years, we are clearly not seeing him at his best. But we know the potential is there and we know he can do it," said Andy Slaughter, Labour MP for Hammersmith and Fulham.

Agrees Katy Clark, Labour MP for Ayrshire North and Arran. "I think we have got to look to our core voters. We have got to go back to basics and deliver for our people," she said. According to Clark, the Labour Party needs to "refocus" on a whole lot of issues, including winning back voters lost over the Iraq war and introducing increase in child benefit, the minimum wage and the state pension.

"If we do that and we behave as Labour and Gordon Brown behaves as Labour Prime Minister, we will definitely win a fourth term," Clark said. "I think it's very, very possible to turn things round if we do the right things now. I don't believe that people don't want a Labour government. I believe they don't want a New Labour government."

"Once you have been in government for a long time, people forget the good things you have done. We need to remind them of that," said Anne Begg, Labour MP for Aberdeen South.

"I think there is still ample time for us to get things right. But we have to show the electorate we are listening to what they said to us," added Gordon Banks, Labour MP for Ochil and South Perthshire.

"These results point to the worst environment that any mid-term government has ever seen, therefore Brown has to learn the lessons. He has been listening to people lately after things went wrong. He needs to do this in the initial stages of decision making," said Michael Connarty, Labour MP for Linlithgow and East Falkirk.

"I still think he is the person with the most solid record and good grasp of what needs to be done to improve the quality of life for the people of this country," Connarty said.

The local press has also been kind to Brown, refusing to write him off.

The Sun and the mass-circulation Daily Mail, whose support is regarded as critical for any prime minister, gave him breathing room in their Monday editions.

"After Labour's worst local election drubbing in 40 years, he knows he has to listen and learn," the Mail said in its editorial.

"For 11 years, New Labour has never had to pay much attention to public opinion because it faced no credible opposition. On a whole range of issues ... ministers thought they could do as they liked," it said.

However, "Mr. Brown's embrace of consumer-friendly policies is a welcome first sign of the new political realities," it added.

The Sun, meanwhile, noted that because Brown did not have to call an election until May 2010 at the latest, underlining that he "at least has time on his side - and the country's mood has rarely been so changeable."

"Things look bleak. But he cannot be written off," the newspaper said.

But with parliamentary elections due by May 2010 and the Conservatives suddenly looking like the favourites, Brown and his colleagues have a huge task on hand to win back the voter confidence.