Portrait of a party in terminal disarray

Mr Brown's statement at the weekend that, if elected, he intends to serve a full term, gave the electorate a frightening view of a Labour victory. Should Labour be re-elected, instead of up to five years of sorting out the country's financial problems, there would be infighting from day one. Mr Brown would be attacked from within his own party by an increasing queue of people who, to quote a close ally, "don't like him very much". Instead of steady Cabinet government we would have a term of office where coups, like buses, would arrive in groups.

Add to this the weekend's revelations by the former general secretary of the Labour Party that Mr Brown had no real plans for government, and that this week the former defence secretary is going to tell the Chilcot inquiry it was Mr Brown's decision as chancellor to cut helicopter spending programmes in 2004 and we have a picture of a politician who ruined New Labour's chances of achieving anything. It gives the impression that the Monster Raving Loony Party, far less the Tories, could have done a better job.

Labour has one small chance of pulling back from an electoral defeat which could reduce its representation below 200 MPs. Were Mr Brown to resign on health grounds, deputy leader Harriet Harman could step in temporarily. Since the dissolution of parliament for the election is only a few weeks away, it would mean the complicated Labour system of holding a ballot for the new leader could be held off until after the election. It would mean the electorate would be voting for a party without knowing who the prime minister would be, but that is probably better than the present case, where it is certain that even if Labour won, Mr Brown would not be prime minister for long and the strife caused in replacing him would damage the country even further.

Whatever happens, history is going to record a terrible verdict on Gordon Brown.

BRUCE D SKIVINGTON

Pairc a Ghlib

Strath,

Wester Ross

Your reports on the current state of the Labour Party will surprise no-one. Gordon Brown, whatever else he may be, is palpably not a leader.

The Tories under David Cameron are eminently beatable and yet, barring a miracle, Mr Brown will lead Labour to a disaster of proportions not seen since John Major's defeat in 1997. The description from an insider of the indecision and dithering before Mr Brown abandoned his general election endorsement plan in 2007 says it all.

The problem is, like the blinded Samson in Gaza, Mr Brown will stumble on and pull down the pillars of the Labour Party around him. If he went now and gave someone else a chance to salvage something from the mess before the election, he would be remembered for having some courage and for thinking of his party and the country before himself.

As it is, by continuing in office he is doing himself, his country and his party inestimable harm.

ALEXANDER McKAY

New Cut Rigg

Edinburgh