Gordon Brown’s hopes of an autumn political recovery were hit yesterday with the news that he faces another dangerous by-election challenge in his Scottish constituency’s back yard.

The Prime Minister, preparing to launch a fightback before the Labour conference next month, mourned the loss of a “good personal friend” after the death from cancer of John MacDougall, MP for Glenrothes, at the age of 60. It left him confronting the prospect of another reverse at the hands of the Scottish Nationalists in the seat that borders his own constituency of Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath.

After the SNP’s triumph in Glasgow East last month, when it achieved a 22 per cent swing, the 14 per cent needed to take Glenrothes appears to be within the Nationalists’ grasp. They were swiftly installed by bookmakers as odds-on favourites.

Last night, however, it appeared that there would be no rush to stage the contest. Mr Brown’s allies do not want it to derail his September offensive, when he will try to make the case that he remains Britain’s and Labour’s best bet to steer them through the current economic difficulties, of which yesterday’s unemployment figures were a further grim reminder.

The extent to which Labour MPs and the media remain focused on doubts about Mr Brown’s future was illustrated vividly by two events.

David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, broke off from his holiday in Minorca to deal with the Georgia crisis. In a BBC interview he was questioned about his article setting out his vision for reviving Labour’s fortunes, which sparked talk of a possible leadership challenge. While praising Mr Brown for the “vigour and determination” of his leadership, he strongly defended what he had written.

More bizarrely, James Plaskitt, the Work and Pensions Minister, initially refused to comment when asked by The World at One on BBC Radio 4 if the worsening economic news would destabilise Mr Brown further. This prompted a press officer monitoring the live interview to cut in and point out audibly that the discussion was only about unemployment figures.

Both episodes underlined the feverish state of the political situation and the difficulty that Mr Brown will have to escape from leadership speculation. While it would be possible to hold the by-election during a parliamentary recess, Mr Brown would be loath to stage it during the conference season when a defeat would give a big boost to the opposition parties. Labour could not contemplate another by-election without a leader in Scotland. The outcome of that internal election will not come until mid-September.In the last by-election fought in Fife, in February 2006, the Liberal Democrats seized power in Dunfermline & West Fife, previously a safe Labour seat.

Mr MacDougall, a former oil-rig construction worker, had a majority of 10,664. Doctors diagnosed the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma more than two years ago. He underwent surgery at Guy’s Hospital in London, but he died in hospital in Kirkcaldy. Mr Brown had visited him on Monday. The Prime Minister said that Mr MacDougall was a “true servant of the people”.

An incurable disease

Mesothelioma, the illness that killed John MacDougall, is a form of cancer almost always caused by exposure to asbestos, a material used in many industries from 1950 that was finally banned in 1999

Mr MacDougall worked as a boilermaker in an oil rig construction yard in Fife before entering politics

The incurable cancer was diagnosed more than two years ago and last year he underwent surgery. Among recent visitors to his bedside was Gordon Brown, MP for the neighbouring seat

Some 2,000 people are treated for mesothelioma in the UK and lawyers say that redress for the families of thousands killed by the disease could hinge on the outcome of six test cases now in the High Court

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