PM warned of 'consequences' if slide continues

Gordon Brown is living on borrowed time unless he can rebuild support for Labour, senior MPs warned in the wake of the party's electoral meltdown in the Crewe and Nantwich by-election.

The Prime Minister was warned that "consequences will follow" if he fails to turn round Labour's dismal fortunes by the autumn. Some senior Labour figures openly called on the Cabinet to rise up against him.

Labour was reeling yesterday from the scale of its defeat at the hands of the Tories in the previously safe Cheshire constituency, where Gwyneth Dunwoody's 7,078 majority was turned into a 7,860-vote Conservative lead overnight. The result sparked panic as MPs realised that a similar swing across the country would wipe out more than 200 Labour seats, including those held by some senior ministers.

Mr Brown will spend the weekend in Scotland pondering the uphill struggle he faces to seize the political initiative and stem the haemorrhage in Labour's support. Yesterday, he defended his leadership as he toured a London hospital, insisting he was best placed to help Britain weather the current economic storms. The Prime Minister said he "got" concerns about rising prices and added: "The task I have been entrusted with is to make sure that we can come through the difficult economic times we face, and when I hear what people are saying – and I go round the country a great deal and I understand people's concerns – people are worried after 10 years in which standards of living have been rising. We have a problem because of rising oil prices, with petrol prices, with food prices, with gas and electricity prices."

There is no sign of a co-ordinated cabinet move against Mr Brown. But privately, his ministers are starting to consider whether he should lead the party into the general election.

Doubts about the Prime Minister grew after a political session of the Cabinet on Tuesday dominated by how Labour should attack the Tories. Some ministers were alarmed because they felt the Government's priority should be getting its own message right rather than turning its fire on David Cameron. One cabinet source described the mood as "desultory".

One minister said: "There is a sense that Gordon is in denial about the scale of the problem facing us. Crewe shows that we are no longer being heard because people have stopped listening to us."

A former minister warned: "We are now a party serious about staying in power. We will come back after the holidays and see how things are. If GB has not turned it around by the autumn, then consequences will follow."

Graham Stringer, a former government whip, forecast "electoral disaster" for Labour if the Prime Minister remains in charge. He said: "If the party is to renew itself and get its policies in line with what the people we represent want, then it is the responsibility of senior members of the Cabinet to say we're going in the wrong direction, it's impossible to change the situation that we are in at the moment and to say to Gordon that they intend to stand for election."

Lord Desai, the former frontbencher, floated the idea of Mr Brown flushing out his critics by triggering a leadership election to clear the air in the party.

Others called for a change of direction to turn Labour's troubles around. Alan Simpson, the MP for Nottingham South, said: "If we do not get back by the end of the year, it's the end of the pier."

A ComRes poll for the BBC showed that fewer than a quarter of people believed Mr Brown was the best party leader to be Prime Minister.

Harriet Harman, the Labour deputy leader, acknowledged there were "discordant voices" in the party but insisted: "The overwhelming majority of people in the Labour Party – and I speak to constituency chairs up and down the country in my capacity as deputy leader – are solidly behind Gordon Brown and what he stands for, which is a strong economy and fair society. He is the man with the experience to make sure that happens."

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