PM facing leadership criticism

The prime minister's leadership has come in for criticism from two former home secretaries.

David Blunkett warned of a policy "void" while Charles Clarke said he was "ashamed" to be a Labour MP.

Friday's criticisms came after Gordon Brown's Commons defeat on the government's policy towards Gurkhas and two separate climbdowns on MPs' expenses.

Blunkett told the Guardian that Brown "needs to draw a line in the sand now, not after the European elections in five weeks' time".

"Labour has lost its political antennae and needs to get them back. We have no underlying domestic social policy," he said.

"There is a void at present. The consequence of that is that we move from Damian McBride to Gurkhas and back to expenses again."

Blunkett added that Labour has "got to get our heads up again".

"We have got to get back to old-fashioned politics that's in touch with people we seek to represent and avoid self-inflicted wounds," he insisted.

And Clarke told the BBC: "There have been things that have been done recently which have made me feel ashamed to be a Labour member of Parliament, which was something I never ever wanted to be in.

"I worked, as you say, over my whole political life to get Labour into a position where it could be a good government and I do see that fading away... And it feels absolutely appalling."

But he added: "I very much expect Gordon still to be leading us into the next general election.

"Obviously Gordon will think about his own position as he rightly should, but I don't think there's a lot of movement around whether Gordon should be moved but there's a lot around saying Gordon has to improve his performance."

Speculation about the prime minister's future is filling the newspapers, with the Daily Mail saying his authority is now being openly questioned by Labour MPs.

The Independent's Andrew Grice says April has proved the cruellest month for Brown, who has gone from "hero to zero" - and he suggests it is Brown's judgement that is to blame.

Blunkett told the BBC Radio 4's Today programme that he was "backing the prime minister".

But his comments will boost Conservative leader David Cameron's argument that "authority is ebbing away from this government by the day".