by Chris McLaughlin

GORDON BROWN is braced for a bloody inquest into the future direction of Government policy in the wake of the local elections.

Amid warnings that he faces even more turbulence in the aftermath of the polls, the Prime Minister and his aides are preparing for a Blairite onslaught led by former Home Secretary Charles Clarke.

There are also fears over damaging fallout from the imminent publication of John Prescott’s memoirs, which is expected to refocus attention on the many battles between Mr Brown and his predecessor, Tony Blair.

Mr Prescott’s book, which is to be serialised in the Sunday Times, is said to be “very gossipy” and reveals details of the serial occasions on which Mr Blair was understood to have agreed to step down, but did not.

The party is also facing a by-election in Crewe and Nantwich, held by the late Gwyneth Dunwoody with a majority of 7,078, on May 22.

An aide to Mr Brown told Tribune, which went to press before the polls opened yesterday: “Gordon is determined to come out fighting, but it will be a while before we are out of the woods and he has a clear field.”

A snap reshuffle has been ruled out as a “non-existent possibility” on the grounds that it would be seen as a panic measure and achieve little in restoring the party’s standing.

Instead, Mr Brown plans to ride the immediate storm and concentrate on winning support for a new raft of legislative proposals to highlight fresh ideas.

Labour members want to take this further and are calling on Mr Brown to open up the process of deciding the policies which will go into the next election manifesto.

Members already have the right to amend the six policy documents which are being despatched to constituency parties before going to the National Policy Forum for discussion.

But a campaign, backed by Tribune, has been launched to persuade Mr Brown to publish the amendments in order to encourage a fuller and wider debate.

A letter to Mr Brown, Peter Kenyon, from Save the Labour Party, and supported by figures such as MP Jon Trickett and Jeremy Beacham, Labour leader of the Local Government Association, says: “There is no technical reason why this consultation process should not be open to all party members, and all responses made for all to see.

“This will bring the Labour Party in line with best practice on consultation procedures and good governance as well as enabling more informed policy-making.”