LONDON, Sept 15: British Prime Minister Gordon moved on Sunday to stamp out the biggest threat yet to his 15-month-old premiership, sacking a Labour official who accused him of “timorous” political manoeuvring.

Brown fired Barry Gardiner as his representative on forestry, a day after he joined a dozen other Labour members of parliament in challenging Brown’s leadership.

Brown has already dismissed two other dissidents from junior government posts after they called for a leadership contest, saying Labour needed a debate on its direction after 11 years in power.

But Brown has failed to quell a growing chorus of dissent within his own party at the way he has led the country since taking over as prime minister from Tony Blair in June last year.

The rebellion comes at a crucial time, a week before Labour’s annual conference in Manchester, and has sabotaged Brown’s attempts to re-launch his premiership after the credit crunch and rising prices sent his popularity plummeting.

After a series of crushing election reverses and with Labour trailing the opposition Conservatives in the polls by 20 points, Labour politicians are increasingly questioning whether Brown has what it takes to lead a country on the verge of recession.The internal feud only damages Labour further with voters.

Gardiner accused Brown in a Sunday newspaper column of “vacillation, loss of international credibility and timorous political manoeuvres that the public cannot understand.”

Questions over Brown’s future could overshadow the Labour conference, but the rebels who have spoken out so far are relatively minor figures and no heavyweight challenger to Brown has yet emerged who could become a focal point for the revolt.

Gardiner follows Siobhain McDonagh, a government manager who ensures Labour politicians toe the line in parliament, and Joan Ryan, a vice-chair of the Labour Party, who were both sacked at the weekend for criticising the prime minister.

Justin Fisher, political science professor at Brunel University, thinks that while Brown has been hurt by recent events, it would require the resignation of a high-profile member of parliament or junior minister to encourage a member of the cabinet to show their hand as a potential challenger.

“A number of the people who have indicated that they want a contest, with the exception of the deputy whip (McDonagh), are not of sufficient stature in the party to really bring things to a head,” he said.—Reuters