The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, London

Prime Minister Gordon Brown faced speculation Saturday that his disgruntled party could mount a leadership challenge, as senior figures warned him to change or perish.

Although only one Labour Party deputy broke ranks and publicly called for Brown to go after Thursday's devastating by-election defeat, reports said many in the ruling centre-left party wondered how much more they could take. Brown's problems deepened when the main opposition Conservatives swept to victory in the previously safe Labour seat of Crewe and Nantwich in northwest England, with a mammoth swing of nearly 18 percent.

Labour deputy Graham Stringer, an outspoken critic of Brown, told the BBC it was time for a senior figure in the party to mount a challenge. "Is it more damaging for the party to change the leader or cross our fingers and hope that things get better?" he asked. Another outspoken Labour lawmaker, Frank Field, stopped short of calling for Brown's head but said the prime minister's cabinet lacked substance.

"The team needs to be rebuilt with some heavy hitters," he told Sky News.

Other critics refused to be identified, but their message was clear-Brown is fast losing the support of his party, less than a year since he took over from Tony Blair.

One unnamed senior Labour figure told The Guardian newspaper: "People are not far away from thinking that we cannot win under Gordon Brown.

"We wish it was different from what it is. But it is hard to avoid looking at the facts."

The Times newspaper quoted cabinet sources as saying most ministers now doubted whether Labour could turn around its deficit in opinions polls with Brown in charge.

Senior ministers told the daily the party could not sit still and do nothing if it seemed to be heading towards certain defeat at a general election that must take place in the next two years.

The Sun newspaper quoted a cabinet minister as saying: "We have a collective responsibility to do the right thing by the party. We have big problems and they have to be sorted out."

But the process for ousting a Labour leader is lengthy and arduous, unless the cabinet tells a sitting prime minister his time is up, according to the Labour rule book.