London - Sometimes it is difficult not to feel sorry for Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who has endured a barrage of savage and public attacks on his leadership over circumstances that are not all entirely of his making.

"Stand aside or be pushed aside" has been the battle cry of a growing band of disgruntled Labour Party parliamentarians who remain unimpressed with Brown's leadership of Britain over the past 15 months.

The campaign to "oust Gordon" has been fuelled by critical - if not hostile - media, and driven by fears over the economy and the prospect of a possible loss of power at the next general election, due by 2010.

Brown's critics believed that their last chance to rid party and country of an "unpopular" leader would come at Labour's annual party conference in Manchester next week, and set in motion calls to allow a leadership contest.

But after a handful of junior members of government involved in the move were unceremoniously sacked by Brown, and the cabinet displayed public loyalty to him, the budding "coup" fizzled out.

While some Labour MPs spoke out, saying the party was heading for "disaster" with Brown at the helm, many others said they were resigned to the situation and would continue to back Brown for want of a better alternative.

Under the circumstances, Brown's performance at the conference, and especially his speech to delegates next Tuesday, is seen as an acid test for his political survival.

While no one expects it to spark a show of unity that would provide Brown with a springboard for a political comeback, his supporters believe it could give the prime minister some breathing space.

The mood in the party, however, is matched by a similarly gloomy assessment by voters who, according to opinion polls, have little regard for Brown's leadership skills and - more crucially, have lost confidence in his ability to manage the economy.

An-eve-of conference opinion poll showed the opposition Conservatives 28 per cent ahead of Labour, giving the Conservatives under David Cameron a degree of support they have not enjoyed since the heyday of the rule of Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.

While it is hard to pin down exactly what has made Brown so unpopular with the voter, his lack of charisma, serious image and reluctance to take decisions have all been cited as reasons for his failure to inspire his party and the country.

Comparisons with his flamboyant predecessor, Tony Blair, and the fact that Labour has been in power uninterrupted since 1997, have not helped the hapless leader.

Furthermore, Brown's fate has been compounded by the onset of the economic downturn in Britain, which coincided almost exactly with his inheritance of the top job from Blair - after a 13-year wait.

"The nub of Brown's dilemma is how do you reinvent yourself and appear new when you have been around so long?" Times commentator Peter Riddell said this week.

While Brown's supporters insist it is unfair to lay the responsibility for the economic decline at his door, critics maintain that Brown, who was Chancellor of the Exchequer for 10 years, had failed dismally to show leadership in times of crisis.

Some supporters hope that the current global economic turmoil will help Brown, at least in the short term, by putting the squabbles in the Labour Party into perspective.

But the Financial Times concluded: "The rebellion may lack as yet the critical mass to oust the leader - but it is damaging his authority." (dpa)