Brown faces revolt after poll thrashing

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Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown listens during a meeting with Labour activists in Stratford Sunday. — Reuters

LONDON, June 8 (Reuters): Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown faced the prospect of a new challenge to his leadership Monday when support for his ruling Labour Party plunged to its lowest level in a century after European elections.
Compounding Labour's woes, the far-right British National Party won two seats in the European Parliament for the first time. The BNP gained the seats in northern England at the expense of Brown's Labour Party, which had been hit hard by a scandal over politicians abusing their expenses.
Brown, who reshuffled his government after six ministers quit last week, will hold what is expected to be a very tense meeting later Monday with Labour members of parliament, some of whom have urged him to step down for the sake of the party.
"It's a very, very bad defeat for us," Brown's deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman told BBC television.
But Brown was "resilient" and would fight on, she said.
Political commentators said he had a desperate political fight ahead after the disastrous European poll showing. The right-of-centre Daily Telegraph newspaper said Brown was "on the edge, while The Times declared him "out for the count."
The normally supportive Guardian newspaper, which last week also turned against Brown and called on him to step down, said Brown was facing a "make or break" challenge to his leadership.
Conservative leader David Cameron challenged Brown Monday to call a national election --- something he does not have to do until mid-June next year.
"A general election would be a great cleansing process," Cameron told reporters. "It would give the country a fresh start where we so badly need one, with an economy that is in difficulty, with a political system that is in a mess and with a government that is so weak it is just extraordinary."