Brown's argument for unity wins out
Gordon Brown survives meeting of parliamentary Labour party after making successful "argument for unity"
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Monday, 08, Jun 2009 11:12
Gordon Brown hopes to have finally answered questions over his leadership of Labour after convincing his party to accept his "argument for unity".
The prime minister appeared before the parliamentary Labour party in a closed doors session in Westminster this evening after the party woke up to its worst election results in the modern political era.
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The results were followed by the resignation of environment minister Jane Kennedy, who said she could not support Mr Brown as Labour leader or prime minister.
But shrugging off the eighth such resignation in almost as many days, Mr Brown faced his critics in a packed committee room in parliament tonight.
There he was told by several MPs, including former home secretary Charles Clarke, that he had to resign.
 | "I'm not making a plea for unity. I am making an argument for unity." |
But in a speech described as passionate by several in attendance, the prime minister said: "I have my strengths, I have my weaknesses.
"There are some things I do well, some things not so well. I've learned you've got to keep learning all the time."
Mr Brown went on to say: "We solve the problems not by walking away but by facing it and doing something about it."
Emerging from the 90-minute meeting, Newport West MP Paul Flynn said: "If he'd spoken with the same passion and conviction [in recent weeks] as he did then, we wouldn't have had this cock-up."
Mr Brown his due to chair the first meeting of his new Cabinet, which was reshuffled on Friday, tomorrow.
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He now hopes to focus on policy and not leadership, a message championed over the weekend by influential left-wing Labour backbencher Jon Cruddas.