BRITAIN: Senior British Labour figures are positioning themselves to succeed John Prescott as deputy leader, a minister said yesterday, as the Leader of the Commons, Jack Straw, emerged as a strong candidate in the race.
But colleagues warned that the speculation over the deputy prime minister's future was damaging the party and urged supporters of the various contenders to stop briefing and canvassing on their behalf.
Richard Caborn, the sports minister, said everyone knew there would be a contest because Mr Prescott would step aside when Tony Blair did so.
"It is inevitable there is going to be an election for the deputy leadership and people are positioning themselves. [ There's] nothing wrong with that," he said.
But the response to Alan Johnson's comments in a GMTV interview broadcast yesterday - in which the education secretary backed Mr Prescott, but said he would be interested in his post when it fell vacant - has made many MPs believe that waiting until 2008, when Mr Blair is expected to stand down, is untenable. They fear the alternative to an early contest is an unofficial year-long race.
Yesterday Mr Prescott, who is touring the US and Canada to promote action against climate change, dismissed questions about his future as "daft". But many of his colleagues believe the effect of the speculation is worse than that.
Hazel Blears, the Labour Party chairwoman, has urged MPs to "cool it". One minister said: "The longer this goes on, the more damaging it is. If you're in opposition you can let it all hang out and talk about . . . who the leader should be and bare your soul. If you do that in government, people think, what the hell are these guys doing when they're supposed to be running the country?"
Mr Blair will attempt to impose his authority today as he returns to Downing Street to renew the government's drive against antisocial behaviour.
He will warn that local authorities which fail to tackle antisocial behaviour will be deprived of government funding from April 2007.
Supporters of Mr Blair and Gordon Brown have praised Mr Straw as a strong future candidate, but neither wants an early race.
It would prompt questions about the prime minister's position and could offer the victor a platform to challenge Mr Brown for the leadership.
There is already a widespread belief that Mr Johnson will be Mr Brown's chief rival to succeed Mr Blair.
Harriet Harman, the constitutional affairs minister, hopes to form a dream ticket with Mr Johnson under a proposal that the party should have two deputies, one a woman.