Obama sympathy for Britain's under-pressure PM

LONDON (AFP) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown received words of comfort from Barack Obama on Saturday as colleagues warned against trying to force him out over his government's flagging fortunes.

As the media speculated he could be forced to quit following a third crushing by-election defeat in as many months, senior figures in Brown's governing Labour Party ordered rebels to back down and get behind their leader.

And US presidential hopeful Obama, following talks with Brown in London, said that leaders were always more unpopular once elected -- and he had been variously described as a "genius" or an "idiot".

Labour saw the Scottish National Party overturn its 13,507 majority in the Glasgow East constituency in a vote Thursday -- a huge blow indicating it is now haemorrhaging support in its heartland.

Labour lawmakers, fearful for their jobs at the next general election, were now urging senior ministers to tell Brown to step down or face being ousted after they return from holidays in September, newspapers said.

But David Blunkett, a former education and home secretary, warned colleagues to "grow up".

"The issues that affect people are not ones which divide the party or Gordon Brown from any potential successor," he told BBC radio.

"Secondly, we don't have the mechanisms -- we are not a hatchet job party like the Conservatives.

"So grow up, don't go for what might be a popular quick fix that you couldn't actually put in place... simply changing the leader changes nothing."

Most of Saturday's national newspapers carried unattributed quotes apparently from the same sources, blaming Scotsman Brown for their current woes.

One of the quotes from an unnamed minister said: "We cannot go any lower. We are at rock bottom. We are not a one-nation party any more. We are now a no-nation party."

Another quote read: "It's become clear that no-one can do any worse than Gordon. If it's happening in Scotland, what chance do we have in London and the south-east (of England)?"

The Daily Mail's political editor wrote: "All talk now is not if, but when, an attempt is made to unseat him."

In an editorial the tabloid said Brown's job was safe for now, but the knives would be sharpened in the run-up to Labour's annual conference on September 20, unless he turned things around in the next two months.

Some reports said Brown could have done with a flashy set of photo opportunities with the visiting Obama.

However, impartiality protocols dictated that the Illinois senator received the same low-key reception as his Republican rival John McCain did, meaning Brown did not appear with Obama outside the iconic door to 10 Downing Street, the prime minister's office.

"I don't have advice for Prime Minister Brown," Obama told reporters outside Downing Street, when asked about the premier's woes.

"But I will tell you that you're always more popular before you're actually in charge of things. Once you're responsible, then you're going to make some people unhappy and that's just the nature of politics. These things go in cycles.

"Even during the course of this campaign, there have been months where I'm a genius and there are months where I'm an idiot, at least if you read the newspapers."

This weekend, trade unions and party activists are at Labour's National Policy Forum in Warwick, shaping the centre-left party's manifesto for the next general election, which Brown must call by May 2010.

GMB union general secretary Paul Kenny said Labour lawmakers needed to decide quickly whether they wanted to force Brown out.

"It is put up or shut up time. They either support Gordon Brown through to the next election or they actually get rid of him. That is the reality of life," he said.