Usdaw says leadership challenge could threaten economic recovery.

Geoff Hoon, the former Defence Secretary, and Patricia Hewitt, the former Health Secretary, have written to all Labour MPs calling for the leadership issue to be sorted out “once and for all” with a secret ballot among Labour MPs.

 Many of the nations major news sources have considered this to be a new attack on Gordon Brown.

However one major trade union has slammed the move.

John Hannett, General Secretary of Usdaw, the UK's fourth biggest union said his union was absolutely astounded that the question of the leadership of the Labour Party has been brought up at this time.

"Usdaw members are looking to the Labour Party to lead the country back to recovery and this kind of navel-gazing serves no purposes for the hard-working people of Britain," says Hannett.

"Early evidence shows that Gordon Brown's leadership is bringing us back from the brink of financial ruin. At a time when others were wondering what to do, his decisiveness and action prevented a fundamental breakdown in the UK's economy and he persuaded other world leaders to take similar exceptional
measures.

"Our members want MPs to be getting on with addressing issues that matter like helping to protect jobs, getting people back to work and lifting the country out of recession.  It is now more important than ever that we unite against the Tories."