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”

the Evening Standard’s Paul Waugh is reporting that we may see the resignation of a Cabinet minister, from his blog:

” In the last few hours, the rumours have been swirling around again that a Cabinet minister could quit in protest at Gordon’s leadership. The plotters have certainly asked a sympathetic minister to do so – but whether he will do so is another matter.

There is certainly something going on, but with many MPs only just making their way back to Parliament through the snow and wind, it’s difficult to assess how coordinated this all is.”

Lord Mandelson’s intervention this morning in the Standard, in which he says that Labour cannot win the general election if the party only relies on the support of its core votes, will only ad to the intrigue. After all Mandelson has been intimately involved with the planning of Labour’s previous election winning strategies, and knows what it takes to get the party past the finishing line in a victorious position.

According to Gary Gibbon the latest plot, if there is one, began over the Christmas break with phone calls between Labour backbenchers, junior ministers and at least two Cabinet members taking place.

But it would appear that those involved have not come up with a masterplan. “the normal difficulties about whether to get backbenchers applying the pressure with signatures or ministers/men in grey suits marching in are unresolved.”

Charles Clarke has delivered an ‘out with the old’ message as New Year’s Eve approaches – saying Labour need to replace Gordon Brown as leader if they are to stay in power beyond the first half of 2010.

Mr Clarke warned his party is facing an electoral defeat which could see the Conservatives controlling Parliament for the next decade and beyond.

He said his party needed to act now and called for an end to the “conspiracy of silence” he says has protected the Prime Minister’s position so far.

He said: “Senior Party members know and well understand Labour’s true position but, for a variety of reasons, have so far decided to take no action. A conspiracy of silence has protected the party leadership.

“Just before Christmas this mood seemed to change. Newspaper reports and interviews pointed to serious doubts held by cabinet members and others.”

Since 1997 Labour had built a stronger and fairer society, transforming the lives of millions of people, he said, before adding there had been a failure to plot a path for the future.

He said while it might seem easier, and possibly less risky, to do nothing to change the position, that meant Labour was likely to spend the next 10 years “reflecting on the consequences from the impotence of opposition”.

He said: “All the evidence suggests that Brown’s leadership reduces Labour support, that alternative leaders would improve our ratings, and that an election determined by voters’ answers to the question “Do you want Gordon Brown to be Prime Minister for the next five years?” would further shrink Labour support.”

Mr Clarke said: “However, most senior Labour leaders have had little faith in Gordon Brown’s leadership for a considerable time but over the last year have remained silent, and even professed support. They have done this for a variety of reasons.

“The greatest concern is that, under current constitutional arrangements, there is no clear process through which a party leader could be forced to stand down.

“They fear that his stubbornness would see off any challenge and precipitate chaotic internal conflict which in turn would reinforce Labour’s image of ineffectiveness and division, possibly without succeeding in changing the Leader. They feel that success requires ‘overwhelming force’.

“Others worry that, without a clear challenger/successor, a change of leader might simply be a step from the frying pan into the fire. They think that the unpredictable uncertainties of a leadership election could be damaging. In fact a 21-day campaign is quite possible and would refocus attention on what Labour has positively to offer.”

He said the general election remains “eminently winnable for Labour under a new leader”, saying Labour’s policies remain sound and the Conservatives have failed to establish themselves strongly.

He said Labour needed to adopt the “killer instinct” and said: “The New Year will be the time to ensure that the overwhelming feeling which does exist is turned into the action which brings about the necessary change. The price of failure is just too high.”

Sarah Schaefer may not be a household name, but everyone in politics knows her. As the foreign secretaries principle special adviser she is his closest aide, who acts as his voice – as well as his eyes and ears – with journalists.

But she wont be doing this for much longer as it can be revealed that she will soon be leaving government to take up a senior role with the Mars Company.

During her time at Mr Miliband side she played a key role shaping policy at the Foreign Office, but it will be for her role in his leadership bids that she will be most remembered for.

As the ambitious Mr Miliband became more and more frustrated with Gordon Brown and his unwillingness to press on with Tony Blair’s reform agenda, and his lack of leadership, Miliband penned his now infamous Guardian article.

By using a newspaper article to deliver a searing analysis of David Cameron and his party, Mr Miliband also hoped to highlight what he considers Mr Brown’s failure to go on the offensive against the Tories.

As the tremors continued to be felt across a largely deserted Westminster, no sign of regret or qualms could be detected in either the Foreign Secretary or his loyal team.

As the fallout spread through the Labour Party Ms Schaefer was soft-peddling on the damage limitation – as sure a sign as any that the Foreign Secretary has no qualms about the speculation swirling around him.

But during this period the ex-journalists role was much more than just acting as the foreign secretaries mouth piece.

In a very well sourced story for PRWeek David Singleton highlighted her role in Mr Miliband’s leadership team.

“Miliband is also believed to have a campaign manager in place. Alan Donnelly, chairman of the lobbying firm Sovereign Strategy, has been asked to perform the role. The three men are part of a six-strong inner circle already providing discreet help to Miliband in a personal capacity. Other members of the inner circle are former Downing Street head of policy Matthew Taylor and Miliband’s current top special advisers Sarah Schaefer and Madlin Sadler.”

Indeed as one of his inner circle she also played a key role in pushing for her boss to become Europe’s first foreign minister, and is suspected of pressing for Gordon Brown to publicly endorse his candidacy.

While talented and generally respected inside government, Ms Schaefer ambition could get in the way of been part of an effective team.

In January of this year Milibands strategic communications director, Lucian Hudson, decided to leave his post because of “friction” with Schaefer, “She wants to be the female Alastair Campbell, which goes down badly with civil service people,” said once source at the time of Hudson departure.

Schaefer has made her name in politics by knowing which way the political wind is blowing. So her move from Mr Miliband’s side can only be interpreted as a lack of confidence in the government, and its ability function as a cohesive organisation between now and and the election.

Between now and when Mr Brown calls a general election nothing much is expected to happen within a whole host of government departments.

There is not enough parliamentary time to get all bills announced in the Queens Speech through the legislative process, so expect to see more and more ministerial special advisors, working in departments with nothing much to do, to leave government to greener pastures.

So David Miliband will not be taking up a position in Brussels as the EUs first High Representative for Foreign Affairs, the Unions first Foreign Minister in all but name.

His decision to tough it out in Westminster instantly rekindled speculation about his leadership ambitions, this in turn has has prompted a vociferous article by Daniel Finkelstein in today’s Times, he writes:

“The Lisbon treaty is your work as much as anyone’s. You pushed it through and you told everyone that it really mattered. You’ve been making speeches on the importance of the new job as EU foreign minister. You’ve said it is an essential tool of influence. Yet now — now — you tell me that you don’t actually want to do it yourself.”

Yet now — now — you tell me that you don’t actually want to do it yourself. You don’t mind if we get someone less Atlanticist and less pro free trade. It isn’t as important to you that Britain gets the right EU foreign minister as it is that you remain a viable Labour leadership candidate.

Clearly Mr Miliband wants the Labour leadership. He may publicly back Gordon Brown, but we all know that he want the top job, you just have to look at his first attempt to destabilise Brown in July last year. In his article, Finkelstein argues that rather than being the saviour of the Labour party, he’s not up to the job of leading the opposition.

“One other thing you need to think about. Would you, actually, be any good as opposition leader? I hold you in high regard. We don’t always agree (I thought your stance on the Lisbon treaty was outrageous, whereas you thought mine was idiotic), but I think you bring a fierce intelligence to your work. And if I discuss a political issue with you I need to be on my mettle. Yet this isn’t the same as being a successful candidate for prime minister, as my old boss William Hague discovered.

I think you would have to agree that your happiest and most successful moments have, ahem, not always coincided with your appearances in the limelight. You would be under huge pressure as Labour leader. Trying to hold off the Left, revive the party, be a convincing public figure when the media and public entertain doubts. For all your talent, it might not end well.’

Finkelstein is right to point out the similarities between Mr Miliband and William Hague. Let’s not forget that he was at the side of Hague during some his most turbulent times, and saw first hand that a sharp intellect is not enough to get a candidate elected to the top job.

The BBC is reporting that David Miliband will not “look for high office in Europe.”

I have being saying for a long time that Milibands movements on the European front are indicative of the way the labour leadership is moving. If he is not going to be the first high representative for foreign affairs then he can only have an eye on one job, and we all know which job that is.

Speaking on the BBC’s Ten o’clock news Nick Robinson said that those close the the foreign secretary told him that if he moved to Europe his actions would be “perceived as a rat fleeing a sinking ship.”

According to the BBC political editor he told the head of the European socialists’ group on Sunday he was not interested in the job.

In an attempt to quell repeated speculation over his future in government Mr Miliband said he was not “available” for a European post, but did not ruled out taking one if it was offered.

While Mr Miliband has publicly backed Gordon Brown, its clear that he still has an eye on the top job. We know that he came very close to resigning form the government with his close friend James Purnell in June, it’s also reasonable to think that he has been in discussion with Peter Mandelson regarding the next leader of the party.

Nick Robinson is reporting that a friend of the foreign secretary has told him that “David sees his future in British politics,” could this close friend be none other than the business secretary?

Clearly Lord Mandelson is a key ally of Mr Miliband and is now the most powerful person in the government. Indeed he is the only person who can single handily make or break the leadership dreams of his colleagues.