LONDON (AFP) — Gordon Brown marked his first year as prime minister Friday with a humiliating fifth place in a by-election which prompted new questions over his leadership.
A YouGov/Daily Telegraph poll suggesting Brown was an electoral liability and news that economic growth slowed in the first quarter of this year compounded Brown's woes, exactly 12 months since he took over from Tony Blair.
Although the seat of Henley, southern England, is a stronghold for the main opposition Conservatives, the scale of the loss was a surprise, with Brown's Labour trailing the Green Party and even the far-right British National Party.
Its candidate mustered only 1,066 votes -- below the five percent threshold of the total number of votes required for him to retain his 500-pound (630-euro, 993-dollar) deposit.
The Conservatives retained the safe seat vacated by Boris Johnson when he became London Mayor on May 1 by a comfortable 10,116 margin over the Liberal Democrats, slightly down on its 2005 majority.
Brown tried to brush off the result during a visit to Manchester, saying: "By-elections come and by-elections go."
He added: "Of course we have to listen to what people say. But my main job is to improve our public services, to get the economy moving forward... and I am going to continue to do that."
Labour ministers blamed voter dissatisfaction on external pressures -- the slow-down in the world economy, rising oil prices and increased fuel, food and energy costs.
But the party's chief fund-raiser under Blair, Lord Michael Levy, gave a fresh indication of discontent within the ranks by telling the BBC that Labour should "seriously consider" getting rid of Brown as leader.
Levy, who was also Blair's Middle East envoy, was arrested during a police investigation into the "cash for honours" row which dogged Blair's last months in office but was never charged.
Conservative leader David Cameron described the result as "disastrous" for Labour.
"I think what we are seeing is that people who voted for all sorts of different parties... are now looking at the Conservatives and saying, 'Yes, this is an alternative to the government that I can believe in'," he said.
The YouGov poll Friday put Labour 18 points behind the Tories, with 61 percent of voters rating Brown as an electoral liability.
Some 67 percent of voters believe the Conservatives will win the next general election, which is due no later than May 2010, while just 16 percent believe Labour will be returned for a fourth term.
The Henley result also saw bookmakers William Hill cut the odds on Brown being replaced as Labour leader before the general election from 5/4 to 11/10 and slashed the price of him quitting this year from 5/1 to 3/1.
The Conservatives were made clear favourites to win the next general election at 2/7 -- their shortest odds since losing power.
Labour has now polled poorly in three elections since May, also losing to the Tories in local polls and a by-election in a formerly safe seat, putting the opposition on course for a return to power for the first time since 1997.
Office for National Statistics figures showed Friday that Britain's economy grew by just 0.3 percent in the first quarter of 2008 -- the slowest quarterly rate since 2005. The data was revised down from 0.4 percent in May.
Brown was initially praised for his serious-minded approach to government but has seen support haemorrhage since pulling back from an expected early general election last October.
The former finance minister's reputation for sound economic management took a damaging hit from the near-collapse of Britain's Northern Rock bank and his government's botched income tax reforms.
The government has also faced accusations of incompetence after the repeated loss of sensitive personal documents, including most recently intelligence files on Al-Qaeda and Iraq.
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