He will attempt to cement victory over last week’s failed plot against him with an upbeat rallying call at the first Westminster meeting of the year of his MPs and peers.
The Prime Minister will promise to fight the election on “big ideas” to contrast Labour as “the party of aspiration” against Tory “austerity”. He yesterday dismissed as “silliness” last week’s botched coup, organised by former ministers Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt who called for a secret ballot on his leadership.
He said he was even more determined to stay PM.
But his comments were overshadowed by a damning account of his premiership by a former Labour Party general secretary.
Peter Watt backed calls to replace Mr Brown, saying he lacked “emotional intelligence” and was disliked by even some of his closet Cabinet allies. Mr Watt, who quit two years ago in a row about donations over which he was later cleared, claimed that after Mr Brown succeeded Tony Blair in 2007 “Downing Street was a shambles”.
He said: “There was no vision, no strategy, no coordination. It was completely dysfunctional. Gordon was simply making it up as he went along.’’
Mr Watt described how Labour had spent £1.2million on the election that never was in 2007 before Mr Brown called it off. He said ministers including International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander, a key Brown ally, wanted a swift election because they feared voters would like the PM less the more they got to know him.
Mr Alexander yesterday insisted that was not his view then or now and that he was “working hard to get Gordon Brown re-elected as PM”.
Sources close to Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth yesterday denied he was poised to quit amid questions about his involvement in the coup.