by Chris McLaughlin
DEEP concerns over whether Gordon Brown has been terminally damaged are being aired among his closest advisers in the aftermath of the Crewe and Nantwich by-election.
The Prime Minister has resolved to come out fighting on a two-year recovery plan for Labour in which he will “do it his way”, according to close aides.
This week’s announcement that Britain will scrap its entire arsenal of cluster bombs – taken in the face of military opposition – is cited as an example of a new, bolder face to be adopted by Mr Brown on policy in the aftermath of the by-election defeat.
As the Government seeks to extricate itself from the “council tax on wheels” row over road and fuel taxes, Downing Street sources also confirmed that Mr Brown is to lead a renewed counter-attack on Tory leader David Cameron with the aim of portraying him as a leader who represents the policies of the past.
But, amid another looming rebellion by Labour MPs over the fuel hike due this autumn, persistent speculation over his tenure in Number 10 and a continuing drip of corrosive criticism from Blarite messengers, senior aides are worried whether the political damage to Mr Brown’s premiership is reparable.
They are looking for comforting comparisons in President Bill Clinton’s comeback in 1996 when a strategy of holding his nerve, kick-starting a fresh momentum and going on the attack against his opponents won him a second term after his popularity slumped in the 1994 mid-term elections.
Consideration is also being given to opening an informal channel to call on Tony Blair to use his influence to silence the Blairite briefing campaign against Mr Brown’s competence and chances of winning the next election.
Amid reports of private meetings and mutterings that Labour needs a “Cameron clone” to take on the Tories, Foreign Secretary David Miliband has repeatedly denied that he has any intention of challenging for the party leadership.
He and Health Secretary Alan Johnson, who is also being touted as a potential leader, with support among significant unions, joined a public show of unity around Mr Brown this week with loyalists such as Chief Whip Geoff Hoon, Cabinet Office Minister Ed Miliband, Education Secretary Ed Balls and international development Secretary Douglas Alexander.
They insisted that Mr Brown remains the “best man for the job” as they tried to quell speculation about a putsch against him. But a key ally of Mr Blair and special adviser to James Purnell, cited as another potential contender, kept up the drip of damaging criticisms in a manner which some Number 10 insiders saw as a deliberate provocation and challenge to Mr Brown’s authority.
Phil Collins, a former speechwriter to Mr Blair, warned in an article published after the by-election result, that Labour is going through a “tragedy” which has left Mr Brown in a “vulnerable position” after a series of “strategic errors, political mishaps and bad luck”.
Prime Minister Jim Callaghan forced Cabinet colleague Tony Benn to sack his special advisor Frances Morrell when he felt she had stepped out of line. Mr Purnell has made no comment on his aide’s remarks.
