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LONDON: Beleaguered British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will launch a fresh bid to revive his government's dire fortunes this week, but deepening economic gloom and growing party sniping threaten any fightback.
Brown is expected to address the annual conference of Britain's Trades Union Congress (TUC), but his popularity is so low that he is not even guaranteed a warm welcome from the traditional allies of his governing Labour Party.
After a disastrous few months which have seen Labour hammered in a series of by-elections, the centre-left party - which holds its own annual meeting later this month - has slipped up to 24 points behind the main opposition Conservatives in polls.
But Brown has hoped to mount a policy and media fight back as the new political year starts.
The famously dour former finance minister returned from his summer holiday looking remarkably slimmed-down after daily personal trainer sessions, and launched a series of announcements designed to seize back the political initiative.
Last week he unveiled measures to try to reverse a nosedive in house prices, scrapping tax on selling homes worth less than 175,000 pounds (US$311,000), but analysts and the opposition dismissed the move as trivial.
In a speech to Scottish business leaders on Thursday, Brown promised he would attempt to shield voters from the effects of the global credit crunch and rising oil and food prices.
He vowed to "free Britain from the dictatorship of oil" by developing nuclear energy and wind power.
But he disappointed many people in his party and beyond by confirming there would be no one-off payment to help consumers with spiralling energy bills.
Brown told the Scottish Confederation of British Industry that the government was working with utility firms on ways "to address the problems caused by the impact of world oil prices on gas and electricity bills".
"Not short-term gimmicks or giveaways - but firm steps towards making every home in Britain more energy-efficient, thus reducing bills not just temporarily, but permanently."
Brown tried to lift the economic gloom by insisting he was "cautiously optimistic" about the prospects for the British economy, saying it was "better placed" to weather any global storm than it was in the past 40 years.
That was in sharp contrast to current finance minister Alistair Darling's recent bleak assessment that current economic conditions were the worst for 60 years.
Tony Woodley, general secretary of largest union Unite, told The Times newspaper: "If this prime minister doesn't listen and act more than he is doing, then make no mistake about it, it will be the economy that will be his downfall."
With a general election looming by May 2010 at the latest, Labour need to start making up ground fast.
The chances of a challenge to Brown's leadership appear to have receded since former foreign minister Jack Straw - backed by many party faithful as the man most likely to succeed in ousting the prime minister - ruled out a challenge.
Brown certainly has enemies within Labour, such as former interior and education minister Charles Clarke who warned recently that there was a "deep and widely shared concern" that Labour was heading for "utter destruction at the next general election".
Either the government had to improve its performance "significantly" or Brown would have to "stand down as prime minister with honour," Clarke told BBC radio.
But as The Times commented: "There are plotters, but not yet a credible plot.
"There is no sign of any leading figure willing to confront or challenge Mr Brown."
The next month will test Brown's ability to weather the storm. After the TUC conference in Brighton, the Labour Party will hold its annual meeting on September 20-24 in Manchester, followed by the Conservatives from September 28.
A limited cabinet reshuffle is also reported to be on the cards.
- AFP/yb
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