PRIME Minister Gordon Brown was put under further pressure to step down last night as Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell dramatically announced he was quitting the Cabinet as polls closed in crunch elections.
In a resignation letter released to several newspapers, Mr Purnell called on Mr Brown to step aside for the good of the Labour Party, saying that his continued leadership makes a Conservative victory more, not less, likely.
The senior Blairite’s departure follows the loss of four ministers from Mr Brown’s Cabinet in the past three days, amid reports of backbenchers collecting signatures demanding his removal.
Mr Purnell's letter read: "I owe it to our party to say what I believe, no matter how hard that will be.
"I now believe that your continued leadership makes a Conservative victory more, not less, likely. That would be disastrous for our country.
"This moment calls for stronger regulation, an active state, stronger public services, an open democracy. It calls for a Government that measures itself on how it treats the poorest in society. Those are our values not David Cameron’s.
"We therefore owe it to our country to give it a real choice. We need to show that we are prepared to fight to be credible Government and have the courage to offer an alternative future.
"I am therefore calling on you to stand aside to give our Party a fighting chance of winning. As such I am resigning from Government.
The Party was here long before us and we hope it will be here long after we have gone. We must do the right thing by it.
"I am not seeking the leadership nor acting with anyone else. My actions are my own considered view, and nothing more.
"If the consensus is that you should continue, then I will support the Government loyally from the backbenches. But I do believe this question now needs to be put."
Mr Purnell's intervention is the first direct challenge from a senior Labour figure to Mr Brown's leadership and makes his position much more precarious.
The next few days will determine Mr Brown’s future, as it becomes clear whether other ministers and MPs are willing to follow Mr Purnell over the parapet or whether the Prime Minister can reassert his authority with a deft reshuffle.
Meanwhile, a senior Labour backbencher called this evening for the party's MPs to be given a secret ballot on whether Mr Brown should stay as leader.
The normally loyal MP for Huddersfield, Barry Sheerman, who chairs the Commons Schools Committee, told the BBC: "I think he would be asked to step aside if people were allowed a free vote."
Downing Street said in a statement that Prime Minister Gordon Brown was "disappointed" by Mr Purnell's resignation but added that he will continue to give his undivided attention to addressing the challenges facing Britain.But a Blairite minister who had been tipped to quit Government in protest at Mr Brown’s leadership said she was backing the Prime Minister.
Europe minister Caroline Flint said: "I am staying in the Government.
"I have spent my entire ministerial career for six years now serving Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, and I am very proud to be in a Labour Government and very proud to be part of Gordon Brown’s Government."
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Mr Purnell worked for Tony Blair as a special adviser in No 10 and has advanced swiftly through the ministerial ranks since arriving at Westminster in 2001, though he has not been mentioned as one of the foremost candidates to replace Mr Brown as Prime Minister.
He is known to be close to one of the possible front-runners for the leadership, Foreign Secretary David Miliband, though he insisted in his letter that he was not acting with anyone else.
The Stalybridge and Hyde MP’s shock decision to quit is a far more damaging blow to Mr Brown than the departures earlier this week of Jacqui Smith and Hazel Blears, both of whom were expected to lose their jobs in the forthcoming reshuffle.
His resignation may embolden Labour backbenchers to put their names to an email circulating at Westminster calling for Mr Brown to stand aside, particularly now that they cannot be accused of damaging the party’s chances in the local and European elections.
Mr Brown’s hopes of survival may hang on a stronger-than-expected performance in the polls, where voting closed at 10pm this evening.
Eve-of-vote opinion polls had put Labour as low as 16% in the European elections, behind even the UK Independence Party.
In England there were elections in 27 county councils and seven unitary authorities, as well as three mayoral votes.
There were also 72 UK seats in the European Parliament up for grabs.
While a few councils will be counting ballots overnight, the majority of local authority election results are not expected until tomorrow afternoon.
Results in the European Parliament elections will not be in until Sunday night, after polls close in countries elsewhere in Europe.
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Polls closed and counts began at 10pm in Bristol, where one of only four overnight counts will be held.
A spokeswoman for Bristol City Council said initial estimates showed turnout was down on last year - somewhere between 20% and 30% - compared to last year’s final figure of 33.9%.
The Liberal Democrats currently hold the most seats on Bristol City Countil, 32, while Labour have 24, the Conservatives 13 and the Green Party one.
Polling stations opened at 7am today and the first result is due at about 12.30am. A provisional indication will be released around 11.30pm.
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Morecambe and Lunesdale MP Geraldine Smith accused rebels of trying to ``save their own skins'' instead of thinking of the interests of the country.
Ms Smith told Sky News: "I am absolutely furious at the gross disloyalty of these people.
"Most Labour MPs in the parliamentary Labour Party are still backing Gordon Brown and there is a small bunch of malcontents who are out to do as much damage as possible. It is disgraceful."
She added: "Gordon Brown is the best person to see us through this recession.
"Gordon Brown has shown leadership. The world followed. America followed when he recapitalised the banks.
"Do they actually think there is an alternative? Who is this alternative candidate?"
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Yesterday, Hazel Blears quit her Cabinet post as Communities Secretary.
Tonight she declined to speak about Mr Purnell’s resignation.
"I’m just watching the television," she said when asked if she felt she had precipitated the young minister’s move.
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Graham Allen, MP for Nottingham North, told Sky News: ``I think the Labour Party now has a decision to make. Gordon Brown now has a decision to make overnight.
He said he hoped Mr Brown would "take the honourable way out so that the party can progress with a leadership election".
Asked if a new leader would be forced to go to the country immediately, he said: "I don’t suppose that a new prime minister could go on the whole length of the term but it would be a decision for the prime minister to take, when to call that election.
"The Labour Party now needs fresh leadership. I hope that happens with Gordon Brown’s blessing. Gordon has given incredible service to the Labour Party."
He denied that he was the source of the draft email circulating at Westminster yesterday, calling for the Prime Minister to quit.
"People will now have to reconsider where they are on signing something or not signing something. Hopefully, there won’t be a need for anybody to put any names forward."
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Conservative leader David Cameron said: ``In a deep recession and a political crisis we need a strong united Government.
"Instead we have a Government falling apart in front of our eyes.
"Britain deserves better than this.
"With this resignation, the argument for a general election has gone from being strong and powerful to completely unanswerable.
"For the sake of the country, Gordon Brown must carry out the one final act of authority left open to him, go to the Palace and call the general election we have been demanding."
There was no immediate response from 10 Downing Street to Mr Purnell’s resignation.
His departure puts a real question mark over the Prime Minister’s ability to carry out the kind of reshuffle that could win back the political initiative after a torrid few weeks.
Westminster insiders believe Mr Brown may wish to move Chancellor Alistair Darling out of the Treasury to make way for his close ally Ed Balls, and may also be considering moving David Miliband from the Foreign Office to fill the vacancy left by Ms Smith at the head of the Home Office.
But the two men are understood to be reluctant to move. If either were to follow Mr Purnell in quitting the Government rather than accepting another role, it would inflict further damage on the embattled Prime Minister.
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Downing Street said in a statement that Prime Minister Gordon Brown was ``disappointed'' by Mr Purnell's resignation but added that he will continue to give his undivided attention to addressing the challenges facing Britain.
