WARFARE in the British Labour party continued yesterday as three cabinet ministers rallied behind beleaguered prime minister Gordon Brown, while a former Blairite minister backed David Miliband's policy prospectus and another openly called for a leadership contest.
Skills secretary John Denham joined deputy leader Harriet Harman and chancellor Alistair Darling in asserting that Mr Brown was not only the right man to lead Britain through present economic difficulties, but that he could and would lead Labour to election victory.
However, even this endorsement - and the need for it - was widely interpreted as further evidence of Mr Brown's weakened position, just days after the foreign secretary, Mr Miliband, was seen to position himself as a potential successor to the prime minister.
Speculation continued over the weekend about a likely cabinet reshuffle in September, and whether Mr Brown would sack Mr Miliband or seek to "bind" him closer by making him chancellor - amid reports that Mr Miliband is planning a "defining" speech extending far beyond his ministerial brief at next month's party conference in Manchester.
One report yesterday suggested Mr Miliband had been having regular discussions with former prime minister Tony Blair, while a leaked e-mail apparently originating from Mr Blair's office and written last autumn accused Mr Brown of generating "hubris and vacuity" and presiding over "a lamentable confusion of tactics and strategy".
The leak coincided with the charge by former cabinet minister Stephen Byers that the Brown government was seeking to scale an electoral mountain with "a multitude of small policies and worthy initiatives more suited to a Sunday afternoon stroll". Using the same skilfully ambiguous language deployed by the foreign secretary last week, Mr Byers told the Observer: "As David Miliband said, we need to remake our case afresh. That means not just obsessing about the question of Gordon Brown's leadership, but also considering the policies that will re-establish the coalition of support that has won Labour three elections."
While Mr Byers maintained the issue for Labour was "not just" about Mr Brown's leadership, former Blairite minister and MP Brian Wilson said Labour MPs would at some point have to decide whether the current "lemming-like process towards oblivion" was avoidable "and whether or not Gordon Brown is the best available person to prevent a crushing defeat".
Meanwhile, left-wing would-be challenger John McDonnell suggested the only way for Labour to stop the current "dog fighting" would be for all those wishing to stand for the leadership to declare themselves by the party conference.