THE British prime minister, Gordon Brown, is facing an escalating crisis of confidence inside the parliamentary Labour party as record numbers of his members of parliament (MPs) apply to sit in the House of Lords after the next general election.

In the clearest indication to date that increasing numbers of Labour figures believe the party is heading for a heavy defeat at the hands of the Conservative party led by David Cameron, at least 52 MPs have formally approached the prime minister's office at Number 10 Downing Street to be given places in the unelected upper house.

The MPs include current chairs of select committees as well as past and serving middle and junior ranking ministers, according to Labour sources. They account for a seventh of those elected at the last election.

The move by the Labour MPs comes as Brown faces the most perilous week of his premiership.

Ed Balls, the schools secretary, said Labour would perform badly in the European and local elections next Thursday.

“In European and local elections, [held] before a general election the governing parties tend not to do so well,” Balls said at an election briefing. “That is going to happen to us. Of course it is. That is what happened in 2004.” Others were more blunt. “We are doomed,” said one senior Labour figure.

“We're all doing our bit in the elections but it is over for Labour.”

Another Labour figure said the keen interest in the Lords shown by the party's MPs highlighted how disconnected senior figures are from the prime minister.

Brown is expected to try to assert his authority soon after the elections with a cabinet reshuffle. It was the reshuffle last October, in which Peter Mandelson returned to the cabinet, which shored up Brown's position after ministers had been in semi-open revolt over the summer. But there is already speculation in Labour circles about whether Brown will face a leadership challenge if Labour performs badly next week.

Alan Johnson, the health secretary, has attracted attention after he devoted the last bank holiday weekend to publishing an article calling for electoral reform.

But some of the prime minister's strongest opponents at senior levels of the party are sceptical of a cabinet-led challenge. There is a feeling that the cabinet had a chance last summer to move against Brown but David Miliband, the foreign secretary, blew his chances with a few poorly chosen interventions. Hazel Blears, the communities secretary, is seen as the most likely cabinet minister to resign.

Polls indicate that the UK Independence party, which was thought to have reached the high water mark of its success in 2004, will be the main beneficiary of protest votes next Thursday. This would hit the Tories and the Liberal Democrats.

Balls underlined the worries over the impact of the expenses row by saying it could take 10 years to restore public trust in politics. “It will take us not just months, it will be a very big task for this parliament and through the whole of the next one,” he said. The disclosure that 52 Labour MPs are looking to life in the Lords shows many figures believe Labour will struggle to fashion the debate in the way described by Balls.

— The Guardian, London