Gordon Brown's New Labour party has gone into meltdown, with Labour MPs openly talking about Brown's resigning. Labour MP Frank Field, an open critic of the fact that Gordon Brown has betrayed the poorest and most in need by the removal of the 10p tax band has been leading the rebellion against the Prime Minister.

I would be very surprised if he's still leader of the Labour Party then [by 2010].
- Labour MP Frank Field

frustrating, annoying, bewildering and prickly
- John Prescott on Gordon Brown.

Mr. FIeld has said he would be "very suprised" if Gordon Brown were still the leader of the Labour Party by the next election [Source], and has detracted attention from the Prime Ministers attempts to win back support from voters after the disastrous Local Election results recently, the 10p tax debacle and the soaring price of petrol and groceries which threatend to lose them grassroots support. The Independant reported that the PM faces a backbench rebellion, according to Mr. Field [Source].

The split comes as Cherie Blair's autobiography reveals the extent to which Gordon Brown and former Prime Minister Tony Blair argued and fought over the 10 years in which Tony Blair led the Labour Party , adding to Gordon Brown's political burdens.

Ministers rushed to defend Brown, with Ed Balls , his closest political ally, and Alan Johnson supporting the Prime Minister.

"I don't think we expect it to go as well as it did in the summer. So I don't think we then expected in the autumn and spring it to be as difficult as it has been. "But these are the times you get tested to see if you are strong. You have to look forward rather than backwards."
- Ed Balls

The Labour Party's shocking rip will affect, without doubt, the Crewe by-election on the 22nd May. Shockingly, Labour may hand the Tories their first by-election result in 26 years [Source] with their economic incompetance, internal turmoil and public lack of confidence in Gordon Brown himself. Labour have a majority of over 7,000 in a seat they have held for over 50 years. If they lose now, it will be another nail in Gordon Browns already well-furnished coffin.

David Cameron , presumably not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, has said the fiasco was "beginning to resemble a sort of bizarre soap opera". Nick Clegg may as well have expressed gratitude to New Labour for doing the work of the opposition for us.

"I don't want to intrude into the internal grief of the Labour Party: Labour figures seem to be doing a good enough job tearing strips off each other for anyone else to contribute."
- Nick Clegg

It is frankly shocking that, after years of telling people that voting for the Liberal Democrats will let the Tories in, the cause for the Tories winning this by election might well be the sheer and utter incompetance over the last 11 years of this Labour Government. As Labour tear themselves apart, we wonder if instead of presenting ourselves as the only alternative to New Labour, we should be presenting ourselves as the only alternatives to the Tories. With Poll Tax, Recession, huge inflation and the privitisation of the public services , I honestly don't know who is worse.

If we don't get a satisfactory deal, I think there's enough members on the Labour backbenches who will, with others, block the Budget going through,
- Labour MP Frank Field