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GORDON BROWN’S plea for Labour unity was undermined last night as he faced fresh assaults on his leadership from all sections of the party.

The prime minister opened Labour’s annual conference in Manchester with a confident speech insisting that he was the best person to lead the country through the financial crisis.

“Testing times like these are not about public relations and it’s not about slogans,” he said. “The real test is of your judgment. The real test is of the decisions you make.”

His speech was received with a standing ovation. But his moment of glory was overshadowed by renewed infighting and calls for a contest to oust him as leader.

Tom Harris, the transport minister, risked censure by expressing sympathy with rebel MPs who called for a ballot. He wrote on his internet blog that the resignation of the Labour rebel David Cairns, the Scotland minister, was “based on honesty and principle” and that he “deserves respect for what he has done”.

Charles Clarke, the former home secretary, called for an immediate leadership contest, dismissing fears that Labour would be punished by voters for “navel-gazing”. Writing in The Sunday Times he claimed that Brown lacked “strong leadership, clarity of purpose and public support”.

Urging MPs to wield the knife, he added: “Though prevarication and evasion may appear attractive at the moment, they are actually the most dangerous course of all.”

A YouGov poll of Labour members for The Sunday Times reveals that 60% believe the party cannot win an election under Brown. David Miliband, the foreign secretary, emerges as the favourite to succeed.

In a further blow to Brown, his campaign chief in the up-coming Glenrothes by-election resigned, citing No 10 meddling. Friends say Frank Roy, MP for Motherwell and Wishaw, is also considering his position as a government whip.

Caroline Flint, the housing minister, who is a close friend of several leading rebel MPs, warned that the party was failing voters: “It is not good enough to point the finger at the top. If truth be told, we all have to raise our game.” She denied claims that she was considering quitting as a minister.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, Andy Burnham, the culture secretary, declined to rule himself out as a candidate in any leadership election.

Yesterday Brown was calling in favours from old friends to reinforce his fightback. Sir Alan Sugar, the Amstrad tycoon and Apprentice TV star, told the rebels: “I say to those that are not happy: get out. Have the balls to get out. And those of you who are left: get behind the prime minister in the times ahead of us.”

JK Rowling, the Harry Potter author and close friend of Brown’s wife, Sarah, announced yesterday that she was making a £1m donation to help to replenish Labour’s coffers.

Brown will continue the fightback with the promise of free nursery places for every two-year-old.

In his speech today, Jack Straw, the justice secretary, plans to curb ambulance-chasing lawyers who profit from no-win, no-fee cases and will force offenders carrying out community service orders to wear fluorescent jackets from the new year.

Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, will give people greater powers to keep lap-dance clubs out of their neighbourhoods. Hazel Blears, the communities secretary, called for Labour to do more for the neglected working classes. She said that Britain needed its “joiners, plumbers, plasterers, production workers”.

In his speech, Brown cast himself as a man of action. He said: “We made the right choice in the interest of the British people, in the interest of savers and mortgage-holders.”

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