Elections may ease Labour's woes

By Gary O'Donoghue Political correspondent, BBC News

Harriet Harman has scotched rumours of a leadership challenge

So for the first time Harriet Harman has said she doesn't want to be prime minister and doesn't want to be party leader.

It was about as categorical as it gets in politics, and in truth she had little option but to say it.

Labour could have done with a quiet bank holiday weekend - a chance to get away, breathe some fresh air and frankly calm down after last week's debacles over the Gurkhas and MPs' expenses.

But it wasn't to be and in part that was self-inflicted.

Enter Hazel Blears, the normally loyal and feisty political dynamo.

Her talk of "lamentable failures" over communication and "YouTube if you want to" were bound to fuel mutterings about the PM's position.

And having that followed swiftly by the headline suggesting Harriet Harman would fight for the top job, all added up to an embryo leadership crisis.

Collection item

So it wasn't surprising to see Ms Harman touring the studios this morning to scotch the rumours. So definite was she, that she picked up a copy of the offending newspaper on the set of the BBC's Breakfast programme and added the word "not" in her own hand to its headline.

Any plotting in this period would be a treachery too far, so expect the malcontents to keep their own counsel for the time being Harman: 'I don't want to be PM'

It made that copy of the Daily Telegraph an instant collection item, stowed away by one of my colleagues in case things were to change in the future.

But in truth the forthcoming elections may well be the thing that instils a little discipline into Labour backbenchers and silences talk of contests for now.

In four weeks' time, there will be local and European elections and already Labour spin doctors are telling people like me that the party will do badly.

Talking down expectations is a normal part of the political process, but it's come to something when you get calls from the party suggesting that you've not been pessimistic enough about Labour's prospects on air.

Keep counsel

Many Labour MPs will be spending the next four weeks on the doorsteps trying to persuade their supporters to come out and vote, let alone the waverers.

Any plotting in this period would be a treachery too far, so expect the malcontents to keep their own counsel for the time being.

After that, it's anyone's guess. Some will argue that a new leader ahead of a general election could stem the tide against Labour even if it didn't save the election - losing less badly than they might otherwise have.

Others will argue that the incumbent should take the hit, and allow the party a fresh start in opposition.

Both arguments have their logic and both their difficulties. But what is clear is that Gordon Brown is not a man to go quietly - and if the evidence of last summer is anything to go by, he will feel that things can turn around from apparently impossible odds.

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