Siobhain McDonagh and Progress Magazine: Labour unrest grows

The BBC reports:

A junior member of the government has been sacked after breaking ranks to call for a challenge to Prime Minister Gordon Brown as Labour leader.

Assistant whip Siobhain McDonagh said she wanted a debate about the party's future and a "huge number" of other Labour MPs also wanted a contest.

And 12 Labour MPs have signed an article in the Conference issue of Progress Magazine - full text here - making a coded attack on Gordon Brown's leadership:

We need to explain what we're going to do about the things that affect people day to day: inflation and interest rates, household bills and mortgages. Harold Wilson talked about the 'pound in your pocket' and Margaret Thatcher likened the economy to a household budget - derided by the pundits, but understood by the public.

The Bank of England's control mechanisms, that have served us well for a decade, have lost credibility and impact. People can see that the Bank's Consumer Prices Index inflation measure does not tally with what is happening to their household bills, and that the Bank's interest rate does not equate to what is happening to their mortgages.

We need to explain what is happening and show how a progressive Labour government can intervene in the public interest.

The 12 MPs signing it are Janet Anderson, Karen Buck, Patricia Hewitt, George Howarth, Eric Joyce, Sally Keeble, Stephen Ladyman, Martin Linton, Shona McIsaac, Margaret Moran, Tom Levitt and Paddy Tipping.

Thanks to Guido Fawkes.