Brown to face left wing challenge

Analysis
By Nick Assinder
Political correspondent, BBC News website

It now seems virtually certain that Gordon Brown will face a Labour leadership challenge from the left of the party.

Mr Meacher has served on several frontbenches

Former minister Michael Meacher is confident that he will be able to attract the required backing of 45 Labour MPs to ensure he is a candidate.

The other declared would-be candidate, John McDonnell, is said to be struggling to reach that figure although he denies that and insists he will fight on.

But Mr Meacher's supporters now hope the left will concentrate their efforts behind him, as the more senior and experienced of the two men.

He served as a junior minister under Harold Wilson and has held posts on every Labour frontbench since then.

He was originally a close ally of veteran left-winger Tony Benn and was once described by former leader Neil Kinnock as Mr Benn's "vicar on earth".

He stood as the left's candidate against Roy Hattersley for the deputy leadership of the Labour party in 1983, but was soundly defeated.

He served under Tony Blair but since leaving the frontbench has become a vocal critic, particularly on climate change and Trident.

Battle of ideas

But, just as was the case with Mr McDonnell, it is likely the chancellor will relish a challenge from the left-winger, believing he can see off Mr Meacher and, as a result, give his leadership greater authority.

He has always been concerned that anything that looked like a coronation would risk undermining him from the start and give his left-wing critics ammunition with which to attack him.

Mr Brown may relish the challenge

If he defeats Mr Meacher he will be able to claim he has won the battle of ideas with the left - finally ending any lingering suggestion he would lead the party in that direction himself - and that his leadership has been legitimised.

Under the party rules, any MP wishing to challenge for the leadership has to win the support of at least 12.5% of the parliamentary party - 45 MPs. It is not possible for MPs to back more than one candidate.

A ballot of the party's electoral college is then held under which a third of votes go to MPs and MEPs, a third to constituency parties and a third to the unions and other affiliated organisations.

The political levy paying members of trade unions and other affiliated organisations will also be balloted on a one-person-vote principle, along with individual consistency members.

Plough on

It is likely Mr Meacher would attract support from the relatively small group of left-wing Labour MPs with a stronger showing among trade unionists and, particularly, grassroots constituency members dissatisfied with the current direction of the party under Tony Blair.

The question that now arises, however, is whether Mr Meacher's decision will persuade others to enter the fray.

There had been demands from the Blairite wing of the party for a heavyweight loyalist to run against the chancellor, with both John Reid and David Miliband talked of openly.

But neither man is showing any willingness to run against the chancellor who has been seen as a near-unstoppable force.

Many on the left are ready to accept they stand little chance of defeating the chancellor but they believe it is right the party should at least have the choice, particularly with rising concerns over the direction Mr Blair has led the government.

They believe the resulting campaign will lead to powerful debate and prove their concerns are not simply confined to small, unrepresentative groups on the fringe of the party.

They will hope it will ensure any successor cannot simply ignore their concerns and plough on regardless.

Others, however, believe they will only succeed in exposing their relative weakness within the party and prove that Labour really has been transformed into New Labour.