Ex-Blair ministers plotting Brown ouster

LONDON, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- Followers of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair are meeting to determine how best to oust Blair's successor, Gordon Brown, from office, sources say.

Such Blairite ex-ministers as Charles Clarke and Stephen Byers have allied with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband to promote him as the new prime minister and are meeting this week to decide the timing of their attacks on Brown, The Times of London quoted anonymous sources as saying.

Miliband last week called for a "radical new phase" for the Labor Party, which polls indicate is trailing the Conservative Party and has lost recent key by-elections in districts once thought safe for Labor.

Brown's position was further undercut by the release of a memo written last fall by either Blair or someone in his office blasting Brown, saying his inept leadership of the party had enabled the Conservatives to gain political momentum.