British Prime Minister Gordon Brown confronts the most difficult time of his political life. His government is in shambles after a series of resignations in the aftermath of the MPs allowance scandal.
Senior members of Brown's cabinet are caught up in the allowances scam, forcing him to announce a ministerial reshuffle to restore some order into his crumbling government. The reshuffle itself has been wrecked by the spate of resignations.
Brown's own survival is at stake, the knives are out within the Labour Party and if he holds on, a general election looms large next year.
On Thursday British voters go to the polls for the local and European elections. However bad the results, Brown will make a last ditch effort to save his government.
The Labour Party has sunk to its greatest depths of unpopularity in 25 years. Gordon Brown's own authority over his MPs has weakened and by the weekend it will be known if he still has enough support within the Labour Party.
Whether Brown will step down and leave his party to be led by another leader who can reform parliament and fight the coming election or will he manage to hang on against the odds? As the crisis in Westminster deepens, Gordon Brown seems to be under his gravest threat ever.
Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Reuters
