EU result deepens Brown woes

After outmanoeuvering what amounted to an attempted coup last week by members of his own cabinet...

After outmanoeuvering what amounted to an attempted coup last week by members of his own cabinet,Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain faced a new and major challenge on Monday,confronting disastrous European election results that could amplify calls within his party for his ouster.

With nearly all the votes counted early on Monday,Browns Labour Party was beaten into a humiliating third place behind the fringe Right-wing United Kingdom Independence Party in second place and the opposition Conservatives in first place,according to the Press Association news agency.

With all the results in the European election counted for England and Wales as Britons awoke on Monday,Labour had won just 15.3 per cent of the ballot 8211; seven points below its showing in the last European vote in 2004 8211; compared to 17.4 per cent for Right-wing Independence Party and 28.6 per cent for the Conservatives,according to a BBC projection. In a breakthrough that will reverberate through British politics,the far-right British National Party won seats in the European Parliament for the first time,securing two of the 69 seats allocated to Britain in the 736-member legislature. Overall,some 388 million people in 27 European countries were eligible to vote,but the turnout was a low 43 per cent.

After weeks of scandal relating to legislators expense accounts and mounting turmoil within Labour,Health Secretary Andy Burnham called the Rightist victory the ultimate protest vote. It is how to deliver the establishment a two-fingered salute.

By some counts,it was Labours worst showing in any British election since 1918. The magnitude of the defeat became apparent in regional results showing that Labour came second in Wales for the first time since 1918 while in two southern regions of England it placed fifth behind the Greens.

Brown has 12 months at the most to call a general election. But a weekend of continuing acrimony in Labour ranks left it far from certain that Brown will still be at the helm when the election comes.