Brown's crisis deepens - can he be ousted before Lisbon's ratification?

The London Evening Standard has the latest on the growing crisis within the Labour party, linked here. The Guido Fawkes blog reported this morning on the bankrupt state of the barely ruling party here. Martin Bright in the New Statesman looks at things from an insiders viewpoint. David Cameron's just released letter to the PM on the topic (thanks to Conservative Home blog) is as follows: ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Thank you for your reply to my letter of yesterday, in which you repeated your claim that no-one was calling for a referendum on Scottish independence now.

This morning Wendy Alexander made the following remarks at First Minister’s Questions:

“Will he [Alex Salmond] bring forward a Referendum Bill in next year's legislative programme next week?”

“We believe that the uncertainty is damaging Scotland. I and my colleagues have therefore offered our support to bring this issue forward now”.

“We believe that Scotland deserves a choice sooner rather than later”.

“I have offered Labour's support for an early referendum”

“Why won't he bring the Bill on?”

“The First Minister tells us that over 80% of Scots want a referendum - so why are we still waiting”.

How on earth does any of this match up with your repeated claims that no one is calling for a referendum now, or your claim in Parliament yesterday that you were going to “review the progress” of the Calman Commission “before making any further decisions” on a referendum?

To claim, as you do in your letter to me, that there is no inconsistency between your position and that of Wendy Alexander because “there is nobody seeking legislation at Westminster to have a referendum” is exactly the sort of linguistic gymnastics that is making people confused and even angry with your style of leadership. They desperately want a Prime Minister who can give straight answers to questions.

Anyone comparing what you have claimed, and what Wendy Alexander has repeated again this morning, will conclude that either you have been completely unclear and potentially misleading in your replies to my questions, or you have lost control of your Party – or perhaps it is a combination of the two.

In light of this open challenge to your authority, perhaps you could make it clear who now speaks for the Labour Party on the issue of a referendum?"

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