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Labour’s troubles deepened yesterday when the chaotic announcement that Ruth Kelly plans to quit the Cabinet left both Gordon Brown and the leadership plotters reeling.

The news, confirmed at 3am in a hotel bar, took the gloss off Mr Brown’s keynote speech, after which ministers had rallied to shore up his fragile position. But it also dealt a blow to the rebels determined to oust him.

It emerged that a number of Ms Kelly’s ministerial friends, including at least one Cabinet minister, had considered destabilising Mr Brown by resigning as a group when he carried out his reshuffle. Her premature departure has denied them that opportunity and with Ms Kelly paying tribute to Mr Brown, calling him a towering figure, the political significance of her decision was lost. A leading rebel told The Times: “We could have used Ruth’s resignation as a trigger, but it’s another chance missed.”

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Ruth Kelly's announcement is a massive blow to Gordon Brown because of its timing

Philip Webster

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Downing Street and Ms Kelly’s officials were forced to confirm that she told Mr Brown last May that she intended to step down to devote more time to her family.

The news leaked out at late night parties in Manchester. Although the timing was neither of Downing Street’s nor Ms Kelly’s choosing, they had no choice but to confirm it was true.

Allies of Mr Brown accused rebels of leaking the news deliberately to undermine him and “rain on his parade” after his well-acclaimed speech.

Ministerial sources told The Times there had been discussion of a group resignation but suggested this was now unlikely to happen because Ms Kelly had effectively already gone and Mr Brown’s speech had earnt him the chance to fight on.

Even so Ms Kelly’s decision again put Mr Brown on the back foot. Although she publicly professed loyalty, friends said that she had been unhappy for some time with Mr Brown’s leadership.

She had also been strongly tipped as a likely casualty in any reshuffle and was felt to have jumped before she was pushed. There were also suggestions that Ms Kelly had considered resigning on several occasions in recent weeks.

Mr Brown will now decide early next week whether to carry out his reshuffle imminently. It could come as early as next Thursday but Government sources said it was by no means certain to happen, and Ms Kelly was happy to carry on in her job until Mr Brown made his changes.

The mother-of-four, forced to rewrite her conference speech, told delegates it was time to “step back” from politics and put her family first.

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