Two British ministers quit, urge Brown to resign

I / London June 5, 2009, 15:49 IST

British PM Gordon Brown was today battling to save his job after two more ministers quit his cabinet, as his Labour party faced reverses in local polls and was predicted to fare badly in elections to European Parliament.

Brown, Downing Street announced, was scheduled to reshuffle his government apparently in a last desperate attempt to stave off calls for his resignation.

In a shock move, Secretary for work and pensions James Purnell and Defence Secretary John Hutton quit Brown's cabinet, calling him to step down.

But, Brown is going ahead to reshuffle his cabinet to fill the vacancies of as many as six ministers who quit his cabinet calling for his resignation.

"We can confirm the reshuffle is going to happen today," a Downing Street spokesman said.

As the local election results came in today, Purnell quit and told Brown to "stand aside".

In an open letter published in newspapers here, Purnell noted that Brown's continued leadership made a Conservative victory "more, not less likely".

Purnell's resignation came as local election results showed Labour losing councilors to the Conservatives and liberal democrats.