GORDON Brown was under renewed pressure last night after one of Tony Blair's closest allies launched a stinging attack on his leadership of the Labour party.
Lord Levy, Blair's chief fundraiser, said that the party under Brown lacked "strong leadership" and he was saddened about what had happened since he had taken over.
The criticism came as Brown was accused of dithering over the Grangemouth fuel cri
sis and of dismissing it as a regional problem.
In an interview with a Sunday newspaper, Lord Levy, the part fund-riaser at the centre of the "cash for honours" probe, hit out at Blair's successor.
He said: "I am saddened to see what's happened to the party now, I am saddened to see all of the bickering and I am saddened to see that somehow there does not appear to be that strong leadership that the Labour Party so desperately needs."
Brown attempted to regain the political initiative by writing that he was always "ready to listen" as he sought to limit the damage to Labour from last week's 10p tax row.
Amid predictions of a backlash at the polls in Thursday's local elections, the Prime Minister insisted in an article for the Labour-supporting Sunday Mirror that it was Tory and Liberal Democrat councils that were letting down "hard-working families".
Brown said: "Whatever the differences and debates of the past week, I know every member of the Labour Party will be working flat out over the next few days. Labour is always ready to listen to people's concerns, and take action on them."
After last week's U-turn on scrapping the 10p tax rate – the Government made concessions to head off a backbench revolt – critics said Brown had neglected to deal with the potentially devastating consequences of the Grangemouth strike which could cost the UK economy £50m a day, half of which would be paid for by the taxpayer.
The Prime Minister was spending the weekend in his country retreat, Chequers. On Friday he urged union leaders and the refinery owners to reach a deal but yesterday his spokesman said he had no plans to make any further statements on Grangemouth. Brown did, however, make a statement on Zimbabwe, but it was left to Business Secretary John Hutton to reassure the public that Grangemouth was under control.
"There is plenty of petrol and diesel in Scotland to meet demand during this period of time. But of course there is going to be a challenge if people change the way that they consume fuel," Hutton said.
Hutton said a national emergency plan drawn up after the 2000 fuel protests would only be triggered by a shortage of supplies, which would not be the case for "a significant period of time".
The opposition parties said the Government had been slow to react. Shadow business secretary Alan Duncan said: "The Government has dithered, which is characteristic of them. I don't think they thought it was anything than more just a regional problem."
Duncan also blamed Brown for increasing industrial action after he scrapped the dividend tax credit when he was Chancellor, costing pension schemes an estimated £5bn a year.
He said: "Gordon Brown's destruction of employee pensions has put strikes back on the agenda for Britain. This is one of his particularly ugly chickens coming home to roost."
The fuel dispute is one of a raft of challenges that Brown is facing in one of the toughest weeks of his premiership.
On Thursday, local elections are being held in England and Wales as well as the London Mayoral elections – Brown's first electoral test since he became Prime Minister. The best Brown can hope for is a narrow Ken Livingstone victory in the knife-edge London Mayoral contest and an improvement on the dismal 26% share of the vote Labour recorded in England and Wales the last time the same set of seats were up for election in 2004.
In Parliament, Brown faces the biggest defeat of his premiership over plans to extend the time terror suspects can be detained from 28 to 42 days, unless he promises opponents a substantial compromise package.
The Counter Terrorism Bill is going through detailed debate in the Commons this week but key votes are not expected until late May or early June.
There will be further embarrassment for Brown tomorrow when the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs is expected to say that cannabis should retain its class C status. After the May 1 elections, he is expected to press ahead with plans to reclassify it as a class B drug.
Downing Street said it did "not recognise" a report that Brown's anger at recent setbacks led to him kicking over a table and smashing three mobile phones. But one Cabinet minister reported last week that the Prime Minister was becoming increasingly "mental" and appeared to be cracking under the strain. The minister complained that Brown was phoning him and other colleagues at all hours, making it difficult for them to get on with their jobs.
