Leadership plot storm in teacup, says Brown

PRIME Minister Gordon Brown yesterday brushed off the latest attempt to oust him as "a storm in a teacup".

In his first remarks since the attempted putsch by former Cabinet Ministers on Wednesday, he insisted he had spent little time considering the challenge to his leadership.

He said "It's taken up very little of my time.

"I think it's one of these sidelines in this time when people are far more worried about, as they should be, about what we are doing to deal with the weather and to make sure that people are safe and secure.

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"So it's not going to take up much of my time and hasn't, certainly, taken up much of my time."

Mr Brown said that, as the drama at Westminster unfolded yesterday afternoon, he was in meetings about Afghanistan, the fight against terrorism, and efforts to cope with the snow.

He dismissed suggestions that Ministers' eventual statements of support had been lukewarm, insisting: "You can read into quotes what you want."

Mr Brown claimed that most Cabinet Ministers demonstrated their support for him "within an hour or two".

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He said: "I would say to you this is a bit of a storm in a teacup. We are actually dealing with real storms at this moment."

There were also problems yesterday for David Cameron who admitted he had "messed up" over the Tories' commitment to a marriage tax break, but insisted it would be delivered within a Parliament.

After days of Labour claims that Conservative tax policy was in disarray, the Tory leader sought to draw a line by saying he had simply "misdescribed" his party's position.