Home
Discover Islam
Quran Recitations
Lectures
Fatwa
Articles
Fiqh
E-Books
Women
Boys & Girls 
Ramadan
Fatwa Audios
Month of Mercy
Women
Eed Al- Fitr
Food Recipes
Videos
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown suffered another serious blow to his leadership Friday after his governing Labour Party lost one of its safest seats in a by-election in his native Scotland.
The Scottish National Party (SNP) reversed a majority of 13,500 in Glasgow East to snatch Labour's 25th safest seat in Britain, prompting more questions about how long Brown can remain in Downing Street.
Although he has only been in the job for a year, Brown has already suffered a string of terrible results in by-elections, local elections and London's mayoral election, when Labour incumbent Ken Livingstone was beaten by Boris Johnson of the main opposition Conservatives.
The latest hammer blow prompted David Cameron, the Conservative leader, to call for a snap general election.
"It's obviously a truly dreadful result for Labour and Gordon Brown," Cameron told reporters.
"What I wonder is whether we can really put up with this for another 18 months... I think the prime minister should have his holiday but then we should have an election."
Brown, who is due to start his summer holiday next week, constitutionally has until the first half of 2010 to call a general election.
The prime minister has been under increasing pressure amid economic problems and widespread criticism, including from Labour lawmakers, of his leadership style and presentation skills.
But the loss of Glasgow East in Labour's traditional central Scotland heartland is being seen as one of the biggest political upsets of recent times.
Questions are now being asked about how long Brown can stay in the job, even though there seems to be no obvious contender waiting in the wings.
Sky News television political editor Adam Boulton wrote in his Internet blog that there was unlikely to be "any sudden panic" which would lead to a leadership challenge.
But he added: "This will plunge Labour activists into even greater doom. Over the next few months, many will be wondering whether changes at the top could at least limit the damage when the general election comes."
The victorious SNP candidate in Glasgow East, John Mason, won 11,277 votes, a majority of 365 over Labour's Margaret Curran, who suffered a drop of 19 percent in vote share on the last general election in 2005.
"This SNP victory is not just a political earthquake, it is off the Richter scale," Mason said in his acceptance speech. "It is an epic win, and the tremors are being felt all the way to Downing Street."
Turnout in the by-election, sparked by the resignation of Labour's David Marshall on health grounds, was around 42 percent, higher than expected, prompting commentators to suggest traditional Labour voters had switched to the pro-Scottish independence SNP to punish Labour.
Brown, who was born and raised in Glasgow, would lose his own seat in Scotland were the 22.54 percent swing replicated in a general election, Britain's domestic Press Association news agency said.
In that scenario, Labour would be left with just one MP in Scotland compared to 40 after the 2005 election, according to PA calculations, meaning ministers including finance minister Alistair Darling would lose their seats.
International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander, a key ally of Gordon Brown, said voters had been expressing frustration at global economic conditions, adding the premier should not shoulder all the blame.
"If you want me to say it is a bad result, it is a bad result," he told the BBC. "I don't think it is a night to say it is about one particular individual."
Labour suffered its worst local election defeat in England and Wales for 40 years in May, while a recent ICM poll in The Guardian on Tuesday put Labour 15 percentage points behind the main opposition Conservatives nationally.
Glasgow East is its third by-election loss in recent months -- the first came in May at Crewe and Nantwich in northwest England, when Labour lost a safe seat to the Conservatives, while in June Labour came fifth behind the far-right British National Party at Henley in southern England.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Brown
AFP
Prayer Times
Prayer times for Doha, Qatar 
