London - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown suffered a setback Wednesday with the resignation of a key cabinet minister over the expenses scandal just a day before crucial European and local elections, commentators in London said. The "strategically-timed" resignation of Hazel Blears, the Communities and Local Government Secretary, followed reports that Home Secretary Jacqui Smith would also step down, while a number of ministers remain under a cloud over the expenses crisis.
There was immediate speculation that Blears, who had been severely criticized by Brown in the expenses crisis, intended to trigger a "rebellion" against the prime minister ahead of the elections in which the ruling Labour Party is expected to receive a drubbing from voters.
"This is the death knell for Brown's leadership," said Trevor Kavanagh, the former political editor of the Sun newspaper. The BBC said Blear's decision was a "deliberate attempt to destabilize Brown."
Other commentators said that Brown's plans to restore trust and authority in his government through a planned reshuffle following the elections were being undermined by ministers "jumping ship."
Meanwhile, in parliament Wednesday, leaders of the Conservative and Liberal opposition parties accused Brown of presiding over a "dysfunctional government" over which he had lost control.
But Brown, responding to his critics in parliament Wednesday, brushed aside accusations that he had lost "all authority" and insisted that he was the right man to steer Britain through the economic recession.
The expenses scandal, which has hit members of parliament (MPs) from all political parties, has exposed the exploitation and abuse of allowances rules by a number of ministers, including Smith and Blears.
However, more worrying still for Brown is the admission by Alistair Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, that he too made dubious claims on a second home, a charge also made against Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon.
Brown, who has pledged to reform the expenses system, had clearly hoped to reinvigorate his flagging leadership with a major reshuffle following the elections.
But as the fast-moving political events appear to be taking on a momentum of their own, newspaper editorials said the government was in "meltdown" as authority slipped away from him.
The Guardian newspaper, a traditional staunch supporter of Labour, Wednesday called on the party to drop Brown, who took over from Tony Blair as prime minister two years ago.
"The tragedy for Mr Brown and his party is that his chance to change it has gone ... The truth is that there is no vision from him, no plan, no argument for the future and no support," said the Guardian editorial.
"He (Brown) is not obviously able to lead ... Labour has a year left before an election; its current leader would waste it. It is time to cut him loose," said the paper.
