McDonnell denies preparing leadership bid

Gordon Brown could have little more than four months to restore his party's fortunes before a concerted effort is launched to remove him from office, Labour MPs believe. But there is no immediate threat of a leadership election, while the left-wing MP John McDonnell yesterday denied reports he was preparing a "stalking horse" challenge.

Cabinet ministers rallied round Mr Brown, with David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, dismissing talk of an effort to remove him from office.

Following Labour's drubbing last week in the local elections, MPs from all wings of the party will return to Westminster tomorrow in mutinous mood. Several have made it clear that their patience is running thin with the Prime Minister, and are demanding a change of direction.

One backbencher privately claimed that he knew of 40 MPs who were contemplating going public over their disillusionment with Mr Brown. And if the Government remains in the doldrums, an obvious flashpoint could come at Labour's annual conference in September.

There is, for the moment, no organised move to oust Mr Brown, not least because he has served less than a year in office and because he has no obvious successor. Blairite MPs also insist they have no plans to attempt a coup. But defeat in the by-election on 22 May in Crewe and Nantwich, a seat held by Labour since the Second World War, could intensify the jitters.

As many as 50 Labour MPs are also expected to rebel next month against plans to increase the maximum detention period for terror suspects to 42 days – enough to inflict a further devastating blow to Mr Brown's authority.

Graham Stringer, the Manchester Blackley MP, told Sky News there was "no real tradition of regicide" within the party. But he warned: "It would not be true to say that these conversations aren't going on between ministers and Labour backbenchers, about whether there should be a challenge. There is a public display of loyalty and there is private despair."

Ronnie Campbell, the MP for Blyth Valley, added: "If Gordon Brown can't handle it, he should get out and get somebody in who can. He has to decide that." Jon Cruddas, the Dagenham MP who stood last year for Labour's deputy leadership, demanded a change in direction as he protested that party chiefs had got out of touch with core voters.

"Let's not mess about – our people are abandoning us, we're sinking fast and no amount of hand-wringing and promises of 'listening and learning' from election night will change that," he wrote in the Sunday Mirror.

Although Mr McDonnell, chair of the left-wing Campaign Group of MPs, ruled out a challenge to Mr Brown, he called for a radical change of direction. "We need to concentrate on getting our policies right and restoring the trust of our supporters. We cannot spin and relaunch our way back to popularity, nor is the anger we are facing from the electorate going to disappear when recent errors are forgotten," he said.

Mr Miliband, who has been tipped as the most likely next Labour leader, told BBC Radio 4's World This Weekend: "I have always believed that Gordon Brown was the right man to take over from Tony Blair. I think he was the right man last year, he is the right man this year [and] I think he is the right man to take us forward into the next general election, because he is a man of deep convictions and real values. I think this is a time for the Labour Party to unite."

John Hutton, the Business Secretary, told Radio 4's Westminster Hour yesterday: "I've worked very closely with [Gordon Brown] in the past year or so and I have seen a man who is completely focused on doing the right thing for Britain."

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