Brown 'faces fight for the leadership'

Chancellor Gordon Brown will not have a clear run at becoming Labour leader when Tony Blair steps down, it has emerged.

Health Secretary John Reid revealed there were "some pretty valid contestants" vying for the job.

In a BBC television interview, he made it clear that Mr Brown could not expect to stand unchallenged.

But the Chancellor's hopes were given a boost after he was identified as the Prime Minister's "natural successor" by former Cabinet minister Peter Mandelson.

In an interview conducted by former Downing Street communications chief Alastair Campbell, to be broadcast later this week, Mr Mandelson - regarded as Mr Blair's closest political ally - envisages a seamless handover of power to Mr Brown when the Prime Minister leaves No 10.

Mr Blair has failed to kill off speculation that he plans to step down as Prime Minister if Labour win a third term, despite insisting he has "no plans" to quit.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in