The Guardian joined the ranks of the right-wing press putting pressure on Gordon Brown by describing him as "the sub-prime minister" (14 April), but suggested that the media and/or other Labour ministers were complicit in a campaign against him. Polls putting Labour at their lowest in 16 years and Brown as more hated than Chamberlain or Wilson allowed commentators to speculate on whether or not a leadership challenge is coming. John Rentoull issued a call for David Milliband to step up to the plate ahead of a "Brown meltdown" as he has "the qualities that could put Labour back in contention" (Independent, 13 April).

The Daily Telegraph dismissed such talk as "premature mischief-making" (15 April) but the Times highlighted "criticism of his leadership, a slump in his authority and an extraordinary bout of indiscipline among some of his party's MPs" (15 April), attributing his decline to three separate events - the aborted election, the Budget and a private meeting of Labour MPs two weeks ago yesterday. Brown himself insisted he was focused on "keeping the economy on track" (Evening Standard, 15 April), and faint support came from his Secretary of State for Health, Alan Johnson, who said "He is not a PR man; he is a serious politician" (Independent, 13 April).