Opinion poll shows Brown loosing further ground

Beleaguered British Premier Gordon Brown on Sunday suffered a fresh blow with an opinion poll showing opposition Conservatives having a 24-point lead among voters in key marginal constituencies amid reports that his own Cabinet colleagues were plotting to oust him.David Cameron's Conservative party is favoured to bag 41 per cent ... ...the votes, according to the poll.Support for Labour in key marginal constituencies has slumped to 17 per cent, putting the party in third place behind Liberal Democrats, who are on 18 per cent, it showed.When a poll of the same marginals was undertaken 12 months ago, Labour was six points ahead of the Tories.The latest CrosbyTextor poll is another setback for the Prime Minister who is facing a possible coup to unseat him in September.Some Cabinet ministers are reportedly plotting against him and a growing numbers of Labour MPs are calling for him to be replaced after Labour's loss to the Scottish Nationalists in last week's by-election in Glasgow East, one the party's 25 safest seats.According to a report in The Sunday Telegraph, the crisis enveloping the Prime Minister overshadowed talks he held on Saturday with Barack Obama, the Democratic challenger for the US presidency.In public, senior Cabinet colleagues continued to back Brown as he began his family holiday last night near Southwold, Suffolk, with his wife, Sarah, and sons John, four and Fraser, two.''I think everybody's ready for a holiday,'' Brown said. He will launch a fight-back on his return to No 10 at the end of August with a Cabinet reshuffle expected early in September.Another paper The Sunday Times reported that senior MPs are running a campaign on behalf of Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, to collect names for a possible leadership bid.Straw left on Saturday for a holiday in America and was not available for comment.The Observer said Geoff Hoon, Labour's chief whip, has come under heavy pressure, alongside Justice Secretary Jack Straw, to lead a delegation asking Brown to quit for the good of the party.Hoon has also emerged the hot favourite to succeed Peter Mandelson as European Commissioner next year, it said.

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