Labour is seen overwhelmingly by the public as the most divided party, according to a ComRes opinion poll for the BBC.

The survey, which will cause widespread alarm inside Labour HQ, shows that 60 percent of those questioned believed that Labour was the most divided party. This is in sharp contrast to the Conservatives, which is only seen as divided by 17% and the Liberal Democrats by 10%.

It is a widely held belief amongst politicians and party strategists that the electorate doesn’t vote for divided parties, so it’s hard to see how Labour strategists can overturn such appalling numbers in such a short period of time.

The poll also fund that 50 percent agreed that Labour would have greater appeal with voters if Gordon Brown stood aside to allow someone else to lead the party into the next election, and 42 percent disagreed.

A result that points to why Brown is so safe, and always has being, ComRes found that the vast majority (69 percent) of those questioned think that if he were to resign, there are no obvious more popular candidates to lead the Labour Party.

Today the Health Select Committee published a hard-hitting report which condemns the government for giving the “greatest emphasis to the least effective policies” for tackling excess drinking. The cross-party group of MPs also said the alcohol industry is “dependent” on people who drink too much and is too close to government.

Commenting on the report Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said:

“The need for action is clear. But I don’t believe minimum pricing proposals is the right way to get to the root of this problem. Penalising the many who drink responsibly in order to constrain a minority will not succeed in tackling this complex challenge.

“There is no research which examines specifically the regressive income effects of minimum pricing; and, depending on the level at which a price is set, there is a risk of it being challenged on the grounds of its impact on competition.

“Instead of distorting the whole drinks market, we want to see the alcohol duty system better targeted by increasing tax on drinks most associated with binge drinking – alcopops and super-strength beers and super-strength ciders.

“We also want to see a change to the licensing regime to introduce a ‘three strikes and you’re out’ policy for licensed premises found to be selling alcohol under-age. A third offence within three years would trigger automatic revocation of the licence and a fine.

“The overall level of alcohol use in this country is high, but it is not rising. What we must do is reduce it, but especially in relation to binge drinkers and chronically high alcohol consumption, both of which are more of a reflection of attitude and behaviour, leading to demand, than matters of availability or price. No legislation or initiative will work unless we have a better understanding of what drives people’s decisions”.

Harriet Harman has been fined £350 fine and given three points on her license, at the City of Westminster magistrates court, for driving without due care and attention following her involvement in a car crash. It has been allegedly she was using a mobile phone at the time of the crash.

Labour’s deputy leader was charged with two offences, driving without due care and attention and driving while using a hand-held mobile phone, but this second charge was dropped.

She faced a maximum penalty of up to £5,000 and three to nine penalty points.

Miss Harman crashed her Ford Fiesta in Dulwich, south London, in July. No one was injured.

A witness was reported to have claimed that after the accident Miss Harman wound down her window and said: “I’m Harriet Harman. You know where you can get me.”

Labour introduced the law to ban driving with a mobile phone in 2003, when Miss Harman was Solicitor General.

It also emerged that the MP already had six points on her license for speeding offenses in 2009 and 2008.

Ms Harman was also ordered to pay £75 costs and a victim surcharge of £15.

There was much speculation today when it emerged that George Osborne would not be taking part in the Pre Budget Report debate, instead leaving Philip Hammond to face off against Liam Byrne, now we know why. He and the Shadow Foreign Secretary were in Helmand, Afghanistan visiting British troops.

CCHQ Have just released these images on Flickr.

And from Benedict Brogan’s Telegraph blog:

Geoff Hoon has admitted that his call for a secret ballot on Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s future had failed. While the plot to unseat Mr Brown did not succeed its clear that his position as Labour leader has been considerably weakened.

However, an opinion poll published on Thursday indicated that any change in the Labour Party’s leadership would make no difference to how a majority of the pcountry will vote in the next general election.

The former defence secretary and ex-health secretary Patricia Hewitt called for Labour MPs to vote on Brown’s leadership on Wednesday, saying this would help to heal divisions in the party which is trailing in opinion polls. But Hoon said he had failed to gain support from backbench MPs.

“This was an opportunity for Labour MPs to recognise that there are these divisions, to publicly accept it and try and resolve it,” Hoon told BBC TV. “They chose not to.”

The poll in the Sun newspaper showed Labour trailing the opposition Conservatives by nine percent, and media noted that a slow and tepid response to the ballot call by many of Brown’s most senior colleagues may cause longer-lasting damage.

The Sun poll, carried out on January 5-6, showed the Conservatives 40 percent, Labour on 31 percent and the Liberal Democrats on 17 percent. Almost three fifths of voters — 58 percent — said a new Labour leader would not affect their decision.

Peter Mandelson, Mr Brown’s closest lieutenant, dismissed the ballot call as nothing more than a distraction.

“I do not have a queue of cabinet ministers at my door or on the phone saying they want to change the leader,” he told the BBC. “I didn’t have to arm twist or persuade anyone.”

But Foreign Secretary David Miliband, a leading candidate to replace Brown, took over six hours to pledge his support for the prime minister, while other ministers gave their backing with varying levels of enthusiasm.

It is rumoured that those behind the ballot call thought they had the support of six senior ministers.

“The plotters may have exposed their own weakness and may soon look like a spent force,” the Guardian newspaper said. “But Brown too has been wounded and weakened once again — just when he and Labour needed to gather their strength to fight the enemy beyond.”

Iain Martin, Deputy Editor of the Wall Street Journal Europe, reports that Alistair Darling raised the possibility of Brown standing down during a one-on-one meeting together yesterday at the hight of the plot.

“the conversation was very difficult and that Darling raised the possibility of Brown going, but the PM resisted. It would be taking it too far, says a well-placed MP, to say that the mild-mannered Darling told his old friend-turned-foe to call it a day. He said it was more that Darling floated the possibility of a swift departure for the sake of the party.”

But an Aide close to the Chancellor told Niall Paterson of Sky News that the allegation was “categorically, unequivocally not true.”

With the news that as many as six current members of Gordon Brown’s Cabinet were willing to resign under the right conditions I thought I would have a little photoshop fun

I hope you enjoy.

Click to enlarge

Nick Robinson has named six members of the current cabinet who he says considered quitting, but didn’t because the conditions were not right.

It is believed that Gordon Brown avoided a mass Cabinet walkout only because there was no widespread backbench support.

The BBC Political Editor named Bob Ainsworth, Douglas Alexander, Jack Straw, Harriet Harman, Alistair Darling and David Miliband as those who considered backing Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt called for a secret ballot of the Parliamentary Labour Party.

Once it became apparent that there was no groundswell on the backbenchers to oust the prime minister all came out and publicly backed Mr Brown. There had been speculation as to why it took some members of the Cabinet so long to come out and endorse the PM, with many commentators speculating about the motivations of certain members.

Several ministers, including Alistair Darling, David Miliband and Harriet Harman took hours to come out and give their backing, and even then some were at pains to only back the election campaign and not the PM.

Mr Miliband was the last of the Cabinet “big beasts” to issues a statement of support for his leader.

“I am working closely with the Prime Minister on foreign policy issues and support the re-election campaign for a Labour Government that he is leading,” he said.

Later on Mr Miliband appeared to avoid endorsing Mr Brown on camera saying only that he was busy focusing on his ministerial duties.

After a slow start senior Cabinet ministers have taken to the airwaves to back the Prime Minister after Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewittt called for a secret vote on his leadership of the Labour Party.

Ed Balls, Lord Mandelson and Andy Burnham have all said that they have a great deal of respect for the ex Cabinet minister’s, but that the party does not need to change leader this close to a General Election.

Peter Mandelson, who is widely credited with saving Mr Brown’s leadership after an attempt to oust him last june, warned against “over-reacting” to the move.

“It is not led by members of the Government. No one has resigned from the Government,” a spokesman for the Business Secretary said.

“The Prime Minister continues to have the support of his colleagues and we should carry on government business as usual.”

Appearing on Sky News Ed Balls, Mr Brown’s closest Cabinet allies,said Ms Hewitt and Mr Hoon’s attempt to remove the prime minister was a “damp squib”.

“I have a lot of respect for Pat and Geoff but they’re not speaking for the vast majority of the PLP and certainly not the Cabinet.

“The Cabinet is united behind Gordon Brown.”

But there is one senior member of the Cabinet we have yet to hear from. Why have we not heard from Alistair Darling? It is well know that he is good friends with both Mr Hoon and Bob Ainsworth, who incidentally was expected to resign with James Purnell in June – but stayed to become Defence Secretary.

His silence could be innocent, the line coming from his aides is that he’s been busy with meetings and that he’s getting on with the job of getting the economy moving again. But with other senior members of the government being wheeled out the longer he goes without saying something the more speculation will grow.

Crunch time will come shortly before the 10 o’clock news, if a member of the Cabinet is going to back the call for a secret ballot of the PLP it will come then. And if nothing is heard from Mr Darling by then then we may be in for some shocking breaking news from Nick Robinson.

Two former Cabinet ministers have written to Labour MPs calling for a secret ballot on the party’s leadership.

Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt’s email does not call for Gordon Brown to resign, but says the issue must be resolved before the general election, which must be called by June 5.

The party leader is elected by the unions, the constituency Labour parties and MPs and MEPs, so it is unclear what effect a secret poll of MPs would mean for Brown’s leadership.

In their email Hoon, a former defence secretary and Hewitt, former health secretary, both seen as supporters of Tony Blair, claimed the parliamentary Labour party is “deeply divided over the question of the leadership”.

They called for a secret ballot as “the only way to resolve this issue” and such a vote “could be done quickly and with minimum disruption to the work of MPs and the government”.

Hoon and Hewitt claim that Brown supporters should be in favour of a vote.

“Equally those who want change, should they lose such a vote, would be expected by the majority of the PLP (Parliamentary Labour Party) to devote all of their efforts to winning the election.

“The implications of such a vote would be clear – everyone would be bound to support the result.”

Hoon, a former chief whip, told the BBC that he has not spoken to any members of the cabinet about the email.

He said colleagues had spoken to him over the Christmas break and there is concern the party is not getting its message across.

If a challenge to the prime minister is to succeed it would need support from senior members of the party.

Tony Lloyd, the chairman of the PLP, told the BBC:

“Geoff Hoon has very little support and that’s the real issue for the Parliamentary Labour Party – what we want is for Gordon Brown to ignore this.”

Danny Alexander, chief-of-staff to Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, said: “Labour has given up any hope of winning this election and given up on governing the country. Labour MPs are now in a desperate scrabble to save their own seats and minimise their defeat.”

Tory chairman Eric Pickles said Gordon Brown is “injured” and should call a general election.

***THE LETTER IN FULL***

“Dear Colleague,

Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt”

Nick Clegg yesterday warned his MPs are “not for sale” as both Labour and the Tories stepped up attempts to woo his supporters.

There are “no backroom deals or under-the-counter understandings” with other parties, he said before laying out four policy priorities likely to be a deal breaker in the event of a hung parliament.

It marks a subtle shift in strategy from Mr Clegg’s party conference speech in September when he set out why he wanted to be Prime Minister. Some senior figures within the party believe his slimmed down list of objectives – fair taxes, education, the economy and political reform – will form the basis of any coalition talks if the Lib-Dems hold the balance of power after the election.

Last night bookmakers Paddy Power cut their odds on a hung Parliament to 9/4, with a spokesman adding that punters believe the Lib-Dems “might be power brokers” after polling day.

The Conservatives have made direct appeals for Lib-Dem supporters to “lend” them their vote in order to oust the Labour administration, claiming policy similarities on the environment, civil liberties and social justice.

Meanwhile, at the weekend, Gordon Brown appeared to hold out his own olive branch to persuade Lib-Dem voters to swing in behind Labour. The Prime Minister said the Lib-Dems were “closer to us on tax and public services”.

But Mr Clegg insisted he was not about to get into bed with either of his opponents.

“David Cameron and Gordon Brown are ostentatiously flirting with Liberal Democrat voters, clumsily trying to woo them – and by implication me and my fellow Liberal Democrat MPs,” he wrote in The Times.

“This year’s general election is likely to be the most open and unpredictable in a generation. So you have a right to know where we stand. I can promise voters wondering whether to put an ‘X’ against the Liberal Democrats that there are no backroom deals or under-the-counter ‘understandings’ with either of the other two parties.”

The Lib-Dem leader said his party had been in tune with the British public on many issues, citing opposition to the Iraq war, civil liberties, the environment, the excesses of the City and rights for Gurkha veterans.

Whatever the outcome of the election, Mr Clegg said, the party would push “four core priorities”. A package of fair taxes would include no income tax on the first £10,000 of earnings. Children would receive a “fair start” through the pupil premium, smaller class sizes and more one-to-one tuition. He also wanted a “green, job-rich, sustainable economy” and a reinvention politics “to get rid of the rotten system of politics and replace it with something new”.