Brown suffers humiliating defeat in mid-term election

Brown’s year in office since taking over from Tony Blair has been calamitous. The approval ratings of Blair’s former finance minister have been in free fall since he opted against calling a snap general election last October.

Accused of dithering over the vote, Brown has since suffered from growing malaise over an economic slowdown, the first run on a major bank in more than a century, a botched tax reform and fears of a housing market crash.

The Labour candidate for the vacant parliamentary seat in the affluent riverside town of Henley-on-Thames, close to London, came fifth in the poll, held on Thursday. He attracted just 3.1 per cent of votes cast — behind the Greens and the far right British National Party. Three years ago Labour won 14.7 per cent.