Brown faces election call

Gordon Brown today faced demands for an autumn general election after Labour crashed to defeat in the Glasgow East by-election, reports our London Editor John Hipwood. The Prime Minister, who was in the West Midlands for a meeting of Labour’s policy forum, brushed off any threat to his leadership, and insisted that he was simply “getting on with the job”. “My full focus is on taking people through these difficult times,” said Mr Brown. It comes after Labour suffered a disastrous defeat to the Scottish National Party in yesterday’s by-election in Glasgow East - its 25th safest seat in the country. Despite the Conservatives finishing third, David Cameron said he wondered whether the country could “put up with this for another 18 months” following successive election defeats for the Government. Read the full story in today’s... [read full story]