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Senior British ministers deny plots to oust Gordon Brown
Senior government ministers said on Sunday there were no plots to oust Gordon Brown as Prime Minister, with one of his potential successors saying he was not interested in taking over the job.
- Agencies
- Published: 14:34 July 27, 2008
London: Senior government ministers said on Sunday there were no plots to oust Gordon Brown as Prime Minister, with one of his potential successors saying he was not interested in taking over the job.
Justice Secretary Jack Straw, who newspapers have widely speculated is being backed by senior Labour MPs to take on Brown as leader, said he had no plans to stand against him.
"Gordon Brown is the best leader to lead us through these tough times. He has done so before and he will do so again," Straw said in a statement to the BBC.
"I was convinced of that when I was his campaign manager last year and nothing that has happened since has changed that view," he said.
Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman scotched suggestions that there were plans to ask Brown to step down, or to stage a coup.
"What's in the best interests of the country is that we have a strong and experienced Prime Minister who's been one of the foremost finance ministers of the world over the last 10 years," Harman told BBC's Andrew Marr Show.
"What would be wrong would be to respond to a very big economic challenge by turning it into a political crisis."
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