The latest to announce her planned departure from office is Community Secretary Hazel Blears, who says she wants to focus her political efforts on her constituency in Manchester in northern England.

"Today I have told the prime minister that I am resigning from the government," Blears said, adding that what she most wanted was to "help Labour reconnect with the British people."

Blears' resignation comes hot on the heals of the leaked revelation that Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, one of the first senior politicians to become embroiled in the expenses scandal dogging Britain’s Labour party, is to leave Brown's cabinet as early as Friday.

Smith came under fire when it emerged that she had claimed for two pornographic films viewed by her husband, and had incorrectly designated her sister’s London residence as her main home.

The BBC said Smith informed the prime minister of her plans to resign several weeks ago, but that Brown convinced her to stay in office until a cabinet reshuffle after Thursday’s elections, which polls suggest will not go well for Labour.

Party turmoil

The double bombshell is a serious blow to Brown and pre-empts his reshuffle, which would have enabled him to let Smith go rather than have her resign, thereby preventing some of the chaos that now reigns in the party.

But that’s not the way it happened, and even before Blears added her resignation to Brown's woes, Smith’s move had already primed the way for two further ministers to announce their own plans to leave the front benches in the coming days.

Both Beverly Hughs, junior minister for children, and Cabinet Office Minister Tom Watson say they are leaving for family reasons.

The future of the chancellor of the exchequer, Alistair Darling, who was revealed to be claiming expenses on two properties at once, also hangs in the balance. On Wednesday he refused to speculate on his political fate.

“I am not going to make any predictions about anything that is going to happen in the next week,” he said, adding that Gordon Brown must decide.

Reshuffle predictions

There is much speculation that Darling will be replaced by the prime minister’s protegé and long-serving aide, Ed Balls, a move that would not go down well with many Labour MPs.

Whatever the prime minister does decide, commentators are increasingly sceptical about his political future. The Daily Mail referred to the labour party as rats deserting a sinking ship. “If they can’t even manage a show of unity and purpose now, in the last hours of an election campaign, isn’t this a sure sign that their time is up?” the paper said.

Even the Guardian newspaper, which traditionally supports Labour, has called for Brown to throw in the towel. Its Wednesday editorial said “the truth is that there is no vision from him, no plan, no argument for the future and no support.

It further called for him to hand over to someone else who might be able to get labour back on track before the general elections which have to be called within the next year.

But as things stand, there is no candidate to take over the helm of Labour's sinking ship.

tkw/AFP/reuters

Editor: Chuck Penfold