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| Neil Kinnock: 'Gordon is finished' |
Gordon Brown asked ex-Labour leader Neil Kinnock if he should quit Downing Street—and was told to DIG IN and take on the party rebels.
But insiders say that privately Kinnock believes it is TOO LATE to rescue the PM.
A Labour source said: “Neil told him he should stay on. But he came away telling everyone Brown was finished. He said it was game over.”
Brown consulted Lord Kinnock in the summer, as rebel MPs stepped up their bid to force him out of No10.
The PM hoped his speech to the Labour party conference would convince them he was the only one with the experience to be leader.
But any positive “bounce” disappeared after the chaotic leaking of Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly’s resignation.
Ms Kelly yesterday heaped praise on Brown’s main rival, Foreign Secretary David Miliband, and said a leadership challenge couldn’t be ruled out.
But we can reveal at least FIVE Cabinet ministers considered quitting in a bid to put pressure on Brown to go.
During the summer, they planned to resign together —but no one would risk making the first move. However, they still pose a huge danger.
One warned: “This government has totally ceased to function. Things are not going to get any better.”
In a bid to save his skin, Mr Brown will NOT sack the rebels in this week’s limited Cabinet reshuffle.
It will see the jobs of Wales and Scotland Secretaries scrapped to be replaced by a “minister of the nations”.
He now faces a critical few weeks. But an ICM poll in the wake of the party conference shows Labour support up just three per cent at 32 per cent.
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